Author Archives: andyfarwell

There was a pastor in a nearby town where I grew up. He knew his Bible. He could have talked circles around most pastors with deep theological ideas. I grew up in a small farm community and big words don’t impress us much. This pastor, in his wisdom, didn’t use them. He would come to our church and preach periodically and I never heard him say one thing I didn’t understand and I was a kid! He simply got up and talked about Jesus. In simple words he would tell about his life and the purpose for which he came. I was impressed. Paul, an apostle of Christ, was trained by the very best teachers of the day. His knowledge of the scriptures was far beyond the average man and he could have baffled many with his intelligence. After an encounter with Christ and being saved he began to go from place to place building up churches. In 1 Corinthians 2:1-2 he says talking to the Corinthian church; when I came to you I did not come to you with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Christ and him crucified.
Paul was sensitive to his audience. He wasn’t there to impress the people of Corinth with his own knowledge but to call attention to a Jesus and his salvation. When we talk to people about Jesus it needs to be about Jesus. Plain and simple. It doesn’t have to be fancy or eloquent or wordy. Just the simple truth spoken in plain terms with a kind heart in a loving manner. Any of us who know Christ can do just that. He gave us the Spirit and his word as a help and if we truly love people we can speak the truth of Jesus into their lives!! Thank you Lord for the great examples that have gone before us that have shown us that simple truth about you is all that’s necessary when sharing you with others!!
Praying you will have a blessed day today!!

There are people that seem to be higher up than ourselves. They are not people we would feel comfortable with sitting at a dinner table. They are wealthy, smart, good looking, people of standing. Most of us would feel inferior to them. Humans put other humans in categories or groups based on looks, social status, wealth and other things. God however, doesn’t discard us based on our standing with other humans. 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 I’m going to give you the short version because it’s a lot so you can look it up. Most of us when we were called to follow Christ and be saved were nobodies in the human view. Not nobles or people of wisdom and high standing. God chose people like us to show the others that it is not their own merit or standing in life that saves them or catch’s God’s eye. It is to God alone that we can give credit to our salvation and the wisdom that comes from knowing Christ. Look, if you don’t think highly of yourself, and I sure don’t myself and rightly so, that doesn’t mean your not loved and highly thought of. Oh sure, maybe in the eyes of man you are nothing. I know I’m nothing. But in God’s eye you are highly thought of because of Christ!! We have to stop worrying about what man thinks and give credit to God for who we are and thank him for calling us to be part of the greatest kingdom ever. We are royalty because of his great love for us!
Thank you Father for called us nobodies of the world to be part of your great kingdom!! Help us to live our lives in appreciation for not forgetting us !
Have a great day my fellow noble men and women!!

When I was a kid, baling hay and straw was a big part of my summer. I would go to different farms and put up hay for them. The pay wasn’t much but often times the ladies would cook lunch and bring it to the field. You learned to remember from year to year which ones brought you the best food!! Hospitality!! It’s a real thing! It’s a Godly thing!! In fact, the apostle John wrote about it in his letter to Gaius. In this letter he spoke of three men. Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius. In those days, the apostles would travel from town to town helping build up the churches and help them learn the gospel. They relied on the hospitality of the churches. Some of the church leaders were very hospitable but others were jealous and didn’t welcome other leaders in. Diotrephes was one such leader. He even went so far as to spread malicious rumors about them in order to undermine their authority. Demetrius on the other hand was very hospitable. He was well spoken of. Even by the truth it tells us in 3 John 1:12. How do we welcome people into our churches? Our homes? Are we using what God has blessed us with to show hospitality to others? I know that when I had two people call me at the same time to go bale hay I would always pick the one that I remembered showed me the most appreciation for my work. How can we expect people to want to join us in following Christ if we are not showing them the love of Christ? Hospitable behavior is Christlike behavior!! Dear Lord, help us to be like Gaius and Demetrius. Let it be said of us that we are loving and hospitable!!
Love ya folks. Have a wonderful day!!

This past year has been an eye opener. With the COVID-19 virus we have learned that both young and old can develop health issues that wreak havoc on their bodies. Many have died even at a fairly young age! Being isolated from one another has also taken a toll. It’s at these trying times that we take a good look at our lives and realize how blessed we are to have our health. We take it for granted most of the time just going through life giving it little thought. We just think that our health is a right given to us from birth. I would contend that instead of a right, it’s a gift. It’s a gift from God. Our health is like other gifts God gives us. We can either squander it or nurture it. Our physical health and our spiritual health are both important. John, an apostle of Christ, wrote a letter to a dear friend Gaius. In 3 John 1:2 John says: Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.
This seems like a simple letter opening at first glance but knowing that John had experienced being tortured and exiled to a prison island, health was of great importance to him. Both the health of the body and the soul. You can almost feel the emotion as he sincerely prayed for good health for his friend. He truly loved his friend. How often do we pray for our friends and their health? Oh sure, when we hear they are sick or injured we certainly will but what about preventative prayer? We talk about preventative maintenance as a health tool all the time right? Exercise and eating right and all of that are important. How about going to the great physician? God is the one who created us. He created us for the purpose of bringing him praise and to fellowship with him. If we are praying to him, which is having a conversation with the Most High God, and we love our friends enough to ask for good health for them, then we are doing what God created us to do. To love him, and love others! And our good health is a blessing which gives us a reason to praise him every single day!! Even though he deserves praise for just being God!! Let’s not forget today that our good health is a gift and let’s pray for each other to be healthy! Thank you Father for giving us our health. Help us not to take it for granted but to remember to thank you often and to pray for each other’s health!
Enjoy the day my friends!!

There are a set of twins that live in our area. They look very much alike. Most people couldn’t tell them apart. I couldn’t either when I first met them. One lives in town and the other one lives near a creek and loves to fish. Whenever I had trouble knowing which one I was talking to I would ask how many fish he had caught and if he answered that he hadn’t been fishing I knew then I was talking to the one from town. Soon I learned to recognize them but at first I had to question. There are many who claim to teach the truth. How do we know for sure if who we listen to is teaching us the right thing? When in comes to faith in God and my eternal life, I don’t want to get that wrong? So how do we tell if what we are being taught is correct? 1 John 4:1-3 dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-Christ which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
Friends, don’t be fooled by those who don’t teach the truth! Jesus did come here in a human body and lived here among men and was seen by men. They saw him before he was crucified and after he rose from the dead. They saw him ascend into heaven. Eyewitnesses , who wrote down these events for us so that we could believe, also wrote the books of the Bible so that we could test and see what was true and what wasn’t. If we study God’s word regularly, soon we can recognize the true teachers from the imposters!! Thank you again Father for your word that helps us recognize your teachers from the others!!
Be blessed!!

A vacuum cleaner salesman came by the house one night. I lived out in the country at the time and only had a handful of neighbors. The man made idle chit chat for a bit and before showing me his vacuum or even talking about it he began telling me how impressed my neighbors were about it. He claimed to know three of them so I began to talk with him a bit. It didn’t take long to realize that he didn’t know the neighbors at all and that he had only pulled their names from a phone book. It’s easy to claim something isn’t it. All you have to do is say it. But proving it is another thing! 1 John 1:5-7 this is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin.
Claiming to know Jesus is easy to say. You just say it right? But actually knowing him is another thing. It doesn’t take long to tell if someone knows him or not. How we live our lives is the proof. If we walk in darkness, meaning we go on living our old sinful way of living, then our claim to know Jesus is just that. A claim. But if we walk in the light, meaning we are going in the opposite direction from our old sinful ways, then it’s easy to see that we are in fellowship with Jesus. It’s vital to study God’s word, be in fellowship with each other, and to pray so that we can live in the light and get to know Christ more and more! Lord, help those of us that claim to know you, live out our lives in such a way that it’s easy to see that it’s more than just a claim but that it’s true!!
Have a joy filled day!!

I’m a selfish believer! I shouldn’t be I guess but the older I get and the more I see the world falling deeper and deeper into sinfulness, the more I wish for Christ’s return. To me, the rapture couldn’t come quick enough. But is that good thinking? Why would I want him to come now? There are loved ones in my life that have not come to trust in Christ as their savior yet! It seems like Christ is slow in his return. I’m sure many might be tempted to think he won’t come at all. The thing is, we need to think like he thinks! 2 Peter 3:8&9 says: but do not forget this one thing my dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to parish, but everyone to come to repentance.
We know that not everyone will come to repentance sadly but we don’t know how many will. Many lost people are out there that may come to repentance and so as we bide our time until the Lord returns, and he knows best when that time should be, we must continue to spread the good news of Jesus’ salvation and forgiveness! Don’t get me wrong, we should still eagerly anticipate his coming but we shouldn’t just stand there watching the sky when there’s so much work to be done!! He will come! How do I know? Because he said so! In the mean time let’s roll up our sleeves and do the work he has called us to do! Time goes faster when we are busy!! Thank you Jesus for your promised return. We look forward to your coming but keep our hands and feet busy with the work of spreading your great news of forgiveness!!
Keep up the good work!!

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day who is a car dealer and a mechanic. He grew up in the business and has carried on the family tradition. He was telling me how much advancement had taken place in the auto industry and how he’s had to continually learn the new technology in order to keep it fresh in his mind so he was able to do his work. If he didn’t continue studying he would fall behind and only be able to do certain things. He would be limited. 2 Peter 2:5-9 tells us to make every effort to add to our faith; goodness, knowledge, self control, perseverance and godliness, mutual affection and love. It says that if we possess these qualities in increasing measure it will keep us from being ineffective and unproductive in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. What does this mean? It means we have to put our work in! We must take time to study our bibles. Both alone and together. We must put into practice what we learn from it. Jesus is not physically here on earth right now. He lives in us and through us. If we are not living out our faith and continually keeping fresh our knowledge of him then we become unproductive witnesses. Then the world around us, the people we know or meet, will not be able to see Jesus. It is through us who believe that he is seen but if we are not living out our faith, then all they see is just another human being! Verse 9 says that if we don’t possess these qualities then we are nearsighted and blind forgetting that we have been cleansed from our past sins! Like a mechanic has to keep brushing up on his skills to be his best, so we too as Christ followers need to hone our skills and knowledge of Christ to be our best!! Help us Lord, not to forget the forgiveness you’ve given us through the sacrifice of Christ! Help us to continually grow in our faith and knowledge of you!!
Love you people!

There was a man who was second in command over some other folks and he was speaking harshly to them. I was in a position of authority over him and one evening invited him to sit and have a chat with me. We discussed the way he was talking to them and I began to explain that leading people with humility would go much farther and accomplish much more than arrogance and harsh words. He proceeded then to explain to me that humility was for the weak. Pride was the only form of effective leadership. He made a few insulting remarks about my position on humility and stormed out. Not long after he came to me and wondered why the guys wouldn’t do what he told them to. I told him to try asking them instead of telling them and to join them in the work and see if it made a difference. It took awhile but it had good results. Some may see humility as weak but how does God view it? He, after all is the ultimate authority. 1 Peter 5:5&6 says; all of you clothe yourselves with humility towards one another because, God opposes the proud but shows grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under God’s mighty hand and he will lift you up in due time.
The world tells us to be prideful but God has shown us that being humble is the best way. Jesus, being God, humbled himself and left his throne in heaven to come here, in a human body, and in the greatest display of humility ever, gave his life, even on a cross in great pain, so that we could be forgiven and saved from eternal punishment. Jesus could have exercised his authority over us but instead he showed us his authority by loving us instead!! Folks, humility is not a trait of weakness but of strength!! Being a leader is a position of humility and of a servant. There is no place for pride and arrogance in God’s kingdom!! Lord, help us to follow your example as we deal with people. Help us to be humble and love people like Jesus did!!
Remember this: you can lead a mule with a carrot much better than you can with a whip! Have a great day!!

None of us are free from trouble in life. At some point we have all had our troubles. Maybe financial troubles or relationship troubles or lost loved ones which is horrible or health issues. The list is long sometimes. I have had my share too. The reactions we have are different though. Some seem to just ignore the pain and go on like nothing happened. Some become bitter and sarcastic with a chip on their shoulder. Others acknowledge their pain but move on. How should we deal with it as a Christ follower? Some might think that believers don’t have troubles. We do. But we do look at things from a different perspective. Many things can happen to us here on earth but it’s just here on earth. It’s temporary. We live in hope of an eternity without trouble. 1 Peter 3:15 says; but in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…
When you put your trust in Christ and make him the Lord of your life, and you know in your heart that his bloodshed was enough to save you and his resurrection back to life is for us who believe , then we have hope. Hope then gives us a view of eternity with God and without sorrow or pain. When we have this to look forward to then nothing this world throws at us can destroy us. Yes we have pain and sorrow now but only for awhile and this hope will give us strength to endure all that we have to endure. So there’s pain with hope of a life without it, or there’s pain with no hope at all. I’m choosing pain with hope!! That hope is in Christ!! What do you choose? Thank you Jesus for coming and giving us the reason for the hope that we have in you!!
Keep smiling!! He coming soon!!

There was a teacher who each day would choose a student to help her teach. She would line them up in a row and then walk back and forth and then pick one of them. Pick me!! Pick me!! They would shout, hoping it was their day. We love to be chosen for special things. It gives us the feeling that we belong to something special. An elite group. Did you know that if you trust and believe that Jesus is real, that he came and died and rose again to life, and that you profess this belief, that you have been chosen to be a part of the most elite family in all of history? It’s true!! It’s God’s family!! 1 Peter 2:9&10 says; but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light! Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy! Let that soak in a bit! Read it again. If that doesn’t make you feel special, then I’m not sure what it would take. This royal priesthood is no temporary thing like being the teachers helper for the day. It’s for all eternity!! How does it feel to be royalty? It may not seem like it now but the day will come when it will be a very big deal and you will rejoice to be a part of it!! Thank you Jesus for being willing to give your life so that we could have the opportunity to be a part of your royal family!!
Have a great day!

It puzzles me that we, as humans, put so much faith in other humans, that are basically living with the same limitations that we do. There is no human out there that can fix all your troubles. But yet we will have that one or two people that we rely on so heavily that we will always go to them when it all goes bad like they can change our world and set it all right. Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a good thing to have people you can go to but I found out the hard way that you can rely too much on them. My Dad was that guy for me. I could talk to him about anything. When troubles came he was my guy. When I was happy about something he was the first to know. When he died it was like the world came crashing down. But something amazing has happened since then. I learned a painful but wonderful lesson that I wish to share with you. When Dad was removed from my life, it was then that I was forced to fully trust God. I could see him clearly because I no longer had Dad to go to. It was like I was a little boy playing peek a boo with God hiding behind my Dad and suddenly Dad stepped away and there he was in plain view! God isn’t scary at all when you get to know him and he wants to be your number one. It was him all along that I should have been going to when life got tough or when I had good news!! He wants to hear it all and unlike Dad or any other human, God has the power and resources to change your life!! 1 Peter 5:7 says cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you!! It’s true!! He really does!! I’m not telling you to get rid of your number one okay? I am telling you to make them your number two. God wants and should be our number one!! Thank you Lord for loving us so much!!!
Have rockin good day!!

It’s fun to watch babies when they get their first taste of food. All they have ever had is milk. Milk does it’s job for awhile but soon a child needs more. We had a baby food grinder and would start out making fruits and vegetables then before long would introduce them to meat. Before you know it a full grown human stands before you fully nourished and ready for life!! Our spiritual life has a similar way about it. When we are first introduced to Jesus and what he did for us we don’t understand in full. We get bits and pieces. Spiritual milk so to speak. 1 Peter 2:2&3 says like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you can grow up in your salvation now that you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. A newborn, when it tastes food for the first time, will like it and crave more. We should be the same. We find this food in the Bible. At first we may need someone to “feed us” or lead and guide us but at some point we need to start feeding ourselves. Hebrews 5:14 says solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. We cannot forever, just rely on our pastors and teachers to keep spoonfeeding us bits and pieces of God’s word. We must start feeding and caring for our own souls so that we can grow and mature. Daily Bible study, prayer, and fellowship with other believers is vital if we wish to grow to be mature Christ followers. Thank you Lord for your word that gives us food and feeds our soul, making us grow and mature!!
Have a blessed day!!

There was a guy from a neighboring school that loved to come to our school functions and stir up trouble with us every chance he got. He was a large man and very intimidating. At 6’6” and about 250, and solid muscle, he towered over most of us. I seemed to be a regular target of his. I had mouth trouble. I’m not really scared of anything but I’ll admit I was scared of him. So. Our school had a big fella too and he was my friend. I asked him to go with me to have a chat with this guy. So he agreed. As we approached him he looked much smaller than he used to so I went right at him and explained that I was quite exhausted with him and was having no more of his bullying me or anyone else. He smiled at me and told me that he was wondering how long it would take. My fear of him had escalated to the point that in my mind he was this awful person. Turns out he wasn’t really but on my own I may never have had the courage to find out. You see I found courage because of who went with me. Psalm 91:1-4 whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Surely he will save you from the fowlers snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
We face many fears in life. From health concerns to relationships to financial worries. We have fears for our children and all kinds of other things. It’s easy to become paralyzed by our fears but it’s not necessary. It’s about who your with. Maybe I should say it’s about who’s with you. Listen my friends, life is hard. Why do it by yourself? I know the macho world tells us to just do it but sometimes we just can’t. Not on our own. We have a God who created us to be with him. He wants and desires our fellowship. He came here to die for us and rose from the dead!! He’s the one that goes to battle with us!! Like David as he faced Goliath, a boy against a great giant warrior, was not afraid because God was with him, we can also go to battle unafraid! He is our shield and rampart!! Thank you Lord for going with us into the dark fears of our life and aging your light so we can see we have nothing to fear!!
Be brave! God is with you!!

We like to say remember so and so? Now he or she was a good person. I can’t remember a time when talking about someone that I’ve used the term holy. He or she was a holy person. It’s just not something we say. It seems unattainable to be holy. In fact I doubt any of us would ever consider ourselves holy. We might read about those in the Bible like David and Job and Peter or Paul and others that we might say were holy but are there no holy people today? I would say with confidence that Billy Graham was a holy man even though he wouldn’t have considered himself to be. Was he perfect? No!! He’s a human. We somehow have the idea that to live a holy life we must be perfectly sin free. It’s not possible to be sin free but it is possible to live a holy life. 1 Peter 1:14-16 as obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who has called you is holy, be holy in all you do; for it is written: be holy because I am holy.
We serve a holy God. Jesus came here and lived amongst us and gave us the perfect example of what a holy life looks like. We have a pattern. While we can’t be perfect like Jesus because we are not God and we do have this pesky sin nature, we can strive to be holy and live out our faith. We can choose not to indulge in the sinful desires but to subdue them. In Christ, we have the Holy Spirit living in us, and we have the Bible to guide us, and we have each other for support. We are completely without excuse when it comes to living a holy life. We can!! Just like those men and women of the Bible. Just like Billy Graham. We all have access to the same power if we so desire to have it!! Dear Jesus, our great example, help us to pattern our lives after yours. Give us strength against temptation and power over sin and make us holy as you are holy!!
Let it be said of our generation of believers that we are holy!! Let’s work together to strive to be like Christ!! Have a blessed day my friends!

When I read the Bible I find many things that are pretty straight forward. Don’t kill. Okay, I think I can manage that. Don’t covet. A little harder but yeah. Confess that you believe in Jesus. Sure! I can do that. What about confessing sin. Well I can certainly confess it to God. We are told to and should. But how do you feel about confessing our sins to each other? Whoa! Wait a minute!! What?!! No way! Why on earth would I air my dirty laundry to you guys? That’s crazy!! Right? James, the brother of Jesus, in chapter 5 verse 16 says, therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
There it is. Right there in the Bible. Confess our sins to each other and pray for each other. We may not consider ourselves in need of healing but if we sin, and we do, then we need help. We also don’t consider ourselves righteous but if we believe in Christ then we are covered by his blood and in the Father’s eyes we are. So we know we sin. We know that in his eyes we are righteous. This means our prayers are powerful and effective. So then, we should be confessing our sins to each other and praying for each other. Also when we confess them out loud to another person we become accountable and that also helps us fight against that sin! We have the power to overcome sins if we follow the straightforward instructions that God has laid out for us. Easy? No! But possible? Yes! So what holds us back? I’ll be the first to confess. Pride. My pride holds me back. Dear God, thank you for showing us the way. Help us to let go of our pride and confess to each other our sins so that we can fight and win over them!!
Praying for you today!

As a kid I would get so frustrated with my Dad when I would ask his permission to do something. Often he wouldn’t answer me right away. I remember one time I said to him why is it taking so long to answer me? It’s a yes or no question!! I will never forget his response. He told me that a great deal of weight comes when you give an answer of either yes or no. If I tell you yes and let you go do what you want and something happens to you I’ll feel responsible. If I tell you no then you’ll be upset and it will cause us trouble. As humans we make all kinds of promises and boasts. We say crazy things like, if I could just get this I’ll never do this or that again. Why do we feel the need to add so much to it when we can barely even stay true to a yes or no answer!! James 5:12 says above all my brothers and sisters, do not swear-not by heaven or earth or anything else. All you need to say is a simple yes or no. Otherwise you will be condemned. We don’t put near enough thought into what we say! We should never swear or make a promise! Just a yes or no would be hard enough!! Dad was right! If we take time before giving an answer and think about the consequences of that answer before we decide, then the only real answer necessary is yes or no. Father, your word is full of reminders! Today I am reminded of the fact that a simple yes or no is all I can handle and I cannot handle more than that. Help us to rely on you for wisdom even in the simple yes or no!!
Today is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it!!

I think it’s important to take time to reflect on your life now and then. Often we realize how much God has done for us and then we can give him praise and thanks for it. I have a word of warning though. One I’ve been guilty of myself. Looking back for too long can cause you to see all your failures and become a discouragement. We should look at ourselves with sober reflection but not dwell on our failures for a long time. In Hebrews 11, often called the hall of faith, many people are mentioned who had faith in God. God helped them do great things. We know that they sinned and made horrible mistakes just like us, but like us they are forgiven. In 1 Corinthians 13 love is described as keeping no record of wrong. God is the perfection of that kind of love and in Hebrews 11 we see that. You see, the author never mentioned the sins of a single person in that passage. Only their faith!! We know that the author was inspired by the Holy Spirit, who is God, so we can conclude that God chose not to mention their sins. Verse 6 says without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone that comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. We should certainly try to live holy and upright lives, pleasing to the Lord, but being human we will fail. The good news is that God, perfect in love, forgives us. Not like we forgive , but he chooses not to keep a record of our wrongdoing. His desire is not to issue out harsh punishment on his people but to instead reward them for their faith. How great is that!! Father, our faith may be weak at times and yes we sin against you, but because of you, we have so much to be thankful for, first and foremost is our undeserved forgiveness!! Even more is that you see us as faithful who earnestly seek you!!
Seek God. Draw near to him and he will draw near to you! Have a blessed day!

It’s planting season here in Illinois. It’s an exciting time of year. We wait through the cold all winter for springtime to come so we can plant. And then we wait again. We wait for it to come up. We wait for it to grow. We wait for it to mature and then finally the harvest!! Normally when we think of waiting we picture in our minds something like sitting on a bench waiting for someone to show up. Just sitting. Now that form of waiting is very annoying and most of us grow very impatient. But theres another kind of waiting I call active waiting. After planting ,we always in our waiting, work to care for our plants. We keep the weeds out and we mow around our fields. Our life is like that. We eagerly wait for our Savior Jesus Christ to return. We look forward to his coming! But we don’t just sit on a bench looking into the sky hoping he’ll show up! James 5:7&8 says be patient then brothers and sisters until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too be patient and stand firm because the Lord’s coming is near. Standing firm is not an inactive term here. We must actively hold to the truth of scripture and live out our faith in our waiting for the Lord’s return! It’s putting our hands and feet to the tasks that God has given us to do while we are here! It’s every single day getting up and going out to do our work and sharing Christ and his salvation as we do it. Paul the apostle built tents, which was all by hand in those days, and he would share Christ at night working tirelessly to spread the gospel everywhere he went. Active waiting!! Let’s get out there and give our best! Today’s world can’t afford benchwarming believers who let the pastors do all the work. The task is too large and we all need to pitch in!! Thank you for giving us work to do and the ability to do it Lord as we pass the time until you return!!
Time moves more quickly when you work while you wait!! Love y’all. Have a good day!!

There was a guy who was a farmer. It was fall and he was harvesting his corn. That’s a busy time for farmers and during that time everything gets put on hold until your done. He had a friend and this friend called him a couple times and needed to talk. He left a couple messages but the farmer didn’t return his call thinking it was no big deal and it could wait. His friend hung himself. The farmer has lived with this for years! He felt horrible! Still does. He always wonders if he had just called him back? We so often think of sin as not doing things that we know we shouldn’t. But what about not doing things we know we should? James4:17 says if anyone then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. How many times I wonder have we missed opportunities to do good but didn’t because we were “too busy”? If God gives us an opportunity to do good whether it be stopping to help someone fix a flat tire or giving a thirsty person a bottle of water or just have a listening ear when someone needs that, or whatever it may be, we should take it. If we don’t then we are sinning and also robbing the other person of help. But if we do, then God receives glory, the other person is blessed and you will also be blessed! It’s not all about not doing bad. It’s also about doing good! I have a very long way to go on both of these!! Look for those opportunities as you go along. I mean really; are we really so important that we can’t delay whatever we are doing for a bit to help someone? Father, we are grateful that you are so loving and patient with us giving us chance after chance to do good. Help us to recognize the opportunities as you present them to us!!
Do good today!! Be blessed!

It has been said, “let’s pull anchor and set sail and see which way the wind takes us.” Sounds fun doesn’t it. Carefree! I remember going on vacation as a kid. We often knew a general direction we were going but not always a real plan. Before you grab a rope to hang me I want to say I’m not speaking against planning! Planning is good. I find a little good in both ideas here. In life, it’s good to plan. And then pray about your plan. That is wise. It’s also been said,” it’s hard to change the direction of an anchored ship.” At some point you have to leave the planning stage and move on. Get started. Set sail!! Yes there are times that storms might come and cause us to change direct or change our plans but that’s okay if we are moving but if you never leave nothing happens. Our spiritual life of being witnesses is no different. We can study our bibles and run ideas of how we would witness through our heads a million times but at some point we have to exercise our faith and trust God. Proverbs 3:5&6 says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. When we set sail in our Christian life it’s not all Willy nilly. If we trust Jesus, he will guide us. Sometimes we might have a change in direction but that is most likely God directing our path!! Thank you Lord for giving us direction. Help us not to stay anchored but to pull anchor and set sail, trusting in you to guide us!!
Go! God is with you!!

I go to the coffee shop in the morning. We are mostly farmers, construction workers or plumbers. Some of our conversations are fun and whimsical. A lot of farm stuff too. Then there’s those days when it all gets political. We are a diverse group in that there are guys on both sides of the aisle. Conversations can sometimes get pretty heated. It’s no secret that I claim to be a Christian. By that I mean a sinner, saved by the grace of God through the bloodshed of Jesus. This adds an interesting element to the conversation at times. Because I am just as passionate about my views as they are and I’m every bit as human, I too can feel the heat rise in my collar and my ears get hot!! I’m a wordy sort of fella and so you can imagine the buckets full of things I want to say at times! But. Yep. There it is. That but. If I claim to be a follower of Christ, who is God and Creator of all mankind, then I have a responsibility to be extra careful how and in what tone I express my views if I express them at all. James 3 talks a lot about taming the tongue. How such a small thing like the tongue can start such a fire!! It also talks about two kinds of wisdom. There’s a worldly wisdom and one that comes from heaven. Verse 17 explains that wisdom from heaven is pure, peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. If we practice this wisdom, which comes from God’s word, it calls us peacemakers. It is in the heat of the moment that we can be our best witness for Christ. While the world sees sharp words and raised voices as wise when arguing their point, that is not how we are to be. Easy right? Ha! Not so much! But it is something we should all work on who claim to be part of the body of Christ. It’s worth the work. Verse 18 says that peacemakers will reap a harvest of righteousness!! Let’s pray for each other to be peacemakers in our conversations in the world!! Help us Lord to be good representatives of you here in our interactions with others! Make us peacemakers!!
Peace out my friends!!

I love to go mushroom hunting. The mushroom is a little miracle from God. Many people can’t find them or see them. They are pretty good at hiding and if you don’t have experience in knowing where to look you won’t get them. I used to get so excited about going that I would dream about them the night before I would go! Your eyes can be trained to see them once you’ve learned where to look. To many people God is like a mushroom. They can’t see him. They don’t know where to look so like folks who can’t find mushrooms they just don’t look. I can’t begin to tell you the hours and miles I’ve walked in the rain or cold or heat to find just a small handful of mushrooms. I desired to have them. That’s what it boils down to. If you desire to have something you will find it. God does exist. While we cant see him exactly we can see the evidence of him everywhere. He cannot be denied. Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities -his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Man has explored the earth from the time it was made and they are still finding new things. God has given us this earth not to just have a place to live or things to eat but he gave it to us as a way to see him! All of creation points right to him! If you go to the mountains he’s there. To the oceans he’s there. All you have to do is desire him enough to look for him! We will all stand before him some day. If he asks, why have you not believed in me, what will you say? I couldn’t see you? He will answer, could you not see me in all that I created for you? Will you say, I could not hear you? He will answer, did you not hear me in the whispering pines, or in the rushing waters, or in the wind? There are no excuses!! Don’t be one who denies the existence of Almighty God!! Even the tiny mushroom points to him!! Just look!! Thank you God for your creation! For giving us a picture of your creativity and power! And thank you for mushrooms!!
Look for him today!! Train the eyes of your heart to see God! You will find him everywhere you go!!

I don’t know if all churches are like this but when I was growing up, we went to a fairly small church. We sat in the same spot every Sunday as did everyone else. Once I awhile, either someone new would come or someone would come that didn’t come on a regular basis and they would sit where one of the regulars usually sat. It was hilarious to see the reaction of the regular when they walked in to see “their spot” taken!! It made me wonder. If we were already in our seat and a visiter came in, would we offer them a seat next to us? If they were well dressed and clean we might. What if they were in dirty clothes and unkempt? Would we then? You don’t have to respond but think about it with some real honesty. Would you? James 2:1-13 is too much to put here but you can look it up. It talks about favoritism. It uses this very example, the rich well dressed, or the poor in rags to show us how we use favoritism. James doesn’t sugar coat it. If we show favoritism we are discriminating amongst ourselves and have become evil judges! (Verse 4) when Jesus went to the cross, he went for just the clean cut wealthy folks right? So if we are unfortunate enough to be born into a poor family then we should never think about getting a seat in his house and feel welcome right? Don’t we know better? He died for sinners. That’s all of us! Rich or poor. Clean or not. We are all stained by the same sin and only God himself could make us clean! How do we know when a stranger comes whether they will be one of those who will be saved or not? They certainly won’t consider it if we push them away and make them feel like the rest of the world has! Just because folks are different from us doesn’t mean they are not lovable!! Remember that Jesus gave his life for that person too just like he did for us! Dear Lord, we all are guilty of wanting to be around only those that make us feel comfortable. Help us to step outside our comfort zone and show love to those who maybe we normally wouldn’t! Forgive us for the times that we haven’t!!
Be a blessing in someone’s life today!!

I had the best examples set for me growing up. The men that I was surrounded by were Godly men. One of them, Art, was one of my Dads best friends in life. He was no relation but his family had to share him as my grandpa because that’s how I felt about him. He was a man of few words but when he spoke the words meant something. He loved the Lord and knew his Bible. He wasn’t always that way. I heard him talk about his younger years and what a temper and a mouth he had. It was unbelievable to me. He gave God all credit for the changes in his life and they were evident! I’ve always wanted to be like him and my Dad. Quiet and wise. James 1:26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues, so deceive themselves and their religion is worthless. Art and Dad did not have a religion that was worthless. They didn’t have to shout “I love Jesus” from the roof tops. You just knew it by how they lived and yet they never would have considered themselves “good men”. Jesus, when invited into our lives, should effect change. We need to be students of his word for sure but also and more importantly we should be doers of his word. Living quiet, upright lives has a profound impact on the lives of those around us. I am living proof of that. Not that I’m quiet. I’m not! But I have come to know Christ as my Savior and to the credit of Art, Dad, Mom and others in my life! It is our turn to be these people in others lives! Thank you Lord for the many people you have put in our lives that lead us to you by their example! Help us to do the same!
You never know who’s watching! Be careful how you live. You might tell someone the story of Jesus without a single word!!

I’ve had to fight against sin my whole life. I have the scars to prove it. Sin is a relentless enemy that shows no mercy at all. If it can’t take you outright in a frontal assault it will disguise itself as something nice and lure you when you are not paying attention. When I was a kid after doing something I shouldn’t Dad would say, what’s done is done. Don’t look back only to remember so that you won’t do it again. Looking back is dangerous! We all like to look back and remember. I don’t know if your like me or not but sometimes reminiscing about things brings up old desires. Not good ones! Sins I once battled and overcome suddenly look good to me and if I linger there in that thinking I will begin to justify doing something just one more time. My friends, the battle against sin happens in your soul, in your heart, and in your mind! It’s there in the deepest regions of what makes you you. If you want to win against it, that’s where you fight!! James 1:14-15 says each person is tempted when dragged away by their own evil desires and enticed. This happens inside! What entices us? Our own desires. We all have a certain sin or sins that we lean towards. What tempts me may not be what tempts you, but something does. If we are aware of what tempts us, and we usually are, we should run from it like our lives depend on it! It does. Verse 15 says desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin and when sin is full grown gives birth to death! The way to win is study God’s word. Constantly! If it’s inside us, where the battle is, then the Holy Spirit can use his word to give us power over these desires and then we can cut off the desire before it becomes a sin. Desire in itself is not a sin but it’s definitely what leads us to it. For me, looking back is only good if I do it to remember the pain sin caused so I won’t do it again instead of the momentary fun that caused all the pain that comes later!! Father, help us fight the good fight so that on that day of your return, we will not be ashamed!
I pray today for you as you fight that daily fight!! Pray for me too!! Love y’all !!

How important is it to be remembered? What would we want to be remembered for? Some of the Ancient Greek warriors believed that if they were to die in battle they would be immortal and their name would never die. Life is so short and fast that one generation may remember those from the generation before but that’s about it. The ones before that are mostly stories handed down. We all love to hear stories about our family members that we never got to meet. Have you considered the fact that we will be one of those? Just a distant memory. A story of long ago. What stories will they tell? I know some stories I don’t want told about me! In fact I can live with being forgotten. Being remembered by people doesn’t change a single thing about my life. My life is just a passing wind compared to eternity. Being known by God is the most important part. Psalm 139:16 says your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be! Why do we spend so much time worried about what humans think of us when God, who has always known us, and will always remember us, should be the one we’re concerned about? Jesus said in Matthew 10 that if we acknowledge him before men then he will acknowledge us before his Father in heaven. Being remembered in heaven is much better than being remembered here!! Then we will live in the very presence of Jesus and all those who have believed from all generations!! And why would being remembered be important then because we will be together? The only legacy I wish to leave is that Jesus saved me and became my very life!!
Thank you Lord God for knowing all our days! Thank you that our lives mean that much to you and that by you we will not be forgotten!!
May the life of Christ be seen in your life and mine by others today and every day!!

Are you a confident person? I’m not really. I second guess myself a lot. There’s a big difference between confidence and arrogance but sometimes it seems the same. One of my hero’s from the Bible, a man who I want to meet when I get to heaven after meeting Jesus, is Paul. Paul was a confident man and some of his statements might be thought as arrogant but in fact he was a very humble man. They would only seem arrogant if we don’t understand the source of his confidence. You see, his confidence wasn’t in himself but in Christ! He endured so much suffering during his missionary journeys. Everywhere he went he was tortured and persecuted but he kept going because he knew that God was with him and that even though his body was subject to pain and death, nothing could harm his soul because it belonged to Jesus. When he knew that he was about to be killed, he made a statement that again could be construed as arrogant but instead displayed his confidence in his Savior. In 2 Timothy 4:7&8 he says, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only me but to all who long for his appearing!!
How amazing could it be to live a life so dedicated to the gospel of Christ, so in love with Jesus, that at the ends of your days you could say these words? We can!! No, we don’t deserve any of that. Paul didn’t either and he knew it! It’s because of Jesus and his work that we can boast of our eternal reward! It is him that is our reward!! Do we just look forward to heaven because we want set free from pain and discomfort? Is it not to meet our Savior? The last words in the verse said not only me but all those who long for his appearing!! Isn’t that what we long for? Yes!! We long for Jesus to come again!! Let’s join Paul and live our lives for the one who has bought our salvation and let us look eagerly for his return! May we all have our confident hope in him alone!! Dear Jesus, we long for your appearing. We wait patiently, or sometimes not patiently for you to come! Keep us to our work in the waiting and help us endure life here with joy in our hearts knowing with great confidence that you will come just as you said you would!! And come quickly!!
Be confident in Christ today! Keep your feet on the ground, your hands to your work, and your eyes ever looking for his return!!

From the time I was a little boy until he passed away I worked with my Dad. For a short time I worked for someone else but even then I would help him on my time off. I can’t remember a single argument. Not one!! I loved and respected him and he loved me. No question! It was a very good thing. God is so vast that we could never really fully understand him. Like the fact of the trinity. God is one but he is three. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Now even though we can’t grasp that there are things we can understand. One of those is the fact that God is a god of community. He loves and love is only good when there is someone to share it on. So before creation he had himself in three persons. They never argued or fought. They just loved and communicated. I think that’s what was so hard for Christ at the cross. For that moment while our sin was upon him their communication or fellowship was broken. The Father couldn’t look on his son with our sin covered all over him. So Jesus was alone. He did what he did so that we would never have to be alone. He created us to be a community. We need to be just that. 2 Timothy 2-23-24 says not to have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments because they produce quarrels. The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone , able to teach, not resentful.
Wouldn’t it be great if our forever family(the church) had that same kind of relationship as the trinity of God ? I’ve experienced a great one with my Dad and can tell you, it’s far better than the constant turmoil of always nitpicking and arguing over silly things that in the end really don’t make any positive difference in anyone’s life! We have got to start displaying the love of God to people around us so they can see that God is good!! We do have a choice. All we must do is put our pride aside and chose to love one another!! God, you are so fantastically awesome that we cant even find a word to describe you!! I look forward to seeing you and spending eternity learning more of who you are and sharing that time with all of those who love you!! Thank you!!
When I end these writing from time to time I tell you I love you. I’m sure many of you who read this I have never met but I can tell you with certainty that I do love you because Jesus is in me and he has shown me that anyone can be loved!! And I do love you!! Have a great day!!

Have you ever talked to a little child and they didn’t like what you were telling them so they covered their ears? Then you say the word candy and all of a sudden their hands come down and they are ready to listen! Do we really change much when we grow up? We don’t really like to hear the doctor tell us that we are overweight so we need to eat less potatoes and more veggies right? We don’t want to hear that we are wrong. It’s human nature to surround ourselves with people who agree with us rather than those who oppose us. Those who tell us what we want to hear. Don’t believe me? 2 Timothy 4:3-5 For the time will come when people will no longer put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers that will tell them what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
There are those that fancy themselves pastors and teachers that would teach whatever the people would like to hear. Like for example, everyone eventually goes to heaven. Or, there is no hell. The list goes on and on. They will even discredit the Bible as a source of absolute truth relevant for today by saying that certain parts were written to this person or that but not to us! Kinda sounds like what Paul warned Timothy about in today’s verse doesn’t it? Listen my friends, the Bible is the only source of truth. It’s God’s word to us and it’s written to us and for us and it’s just as relevant today as it was years ago and will forever be relevant!! Just because it says some things we don’t like to hear doesn’t make it less true. As for me, I would much rather surround myself with teachers who tell me the truth, even if it hurts, than to be told lies that could cost me eternity!! If we really love people as we claim to do then why tell them what could harm them forever? Let’s be seekers of the truth! Check who is teaching you with what the Bible says! It’s vital!! Thank you God for your word and guidance and for those who you have called to teach who tell us the truth!!
Go shine your light today!!

I didn’t get to meet my grandpa on my father’s side. He died before I was born. My Dad talked about him to me quite a bit. He was a quiet man who when he spoke said something meaningful. He held his temper and didn’t use foul language. Both of my Grandmothers were believers as were both of my parents. Prayer and Bible study were always present in our home growing up. I was a rebel. I went hard the other way but all the while hearing God’s word daily. My Mom’s knees were worn from praying for me as I tested her faith over and over with my wild behavior. Today though I am saved! With huge tears I tell you that I am grateful for my family. They lived their lives for Christ regardless of how I felt about it. I was their persecutor, but they lived on doing what was right in God’s eyes! Because of their faith I too have come to believe! Paul was writing to his young friend Timothy. In 2Timothy 1:5 he writes, I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois, then in your mother Eunice and I am convinced now lives in you also! If you think you don’t have a mission, or a purpose to fulfil for Christ, or you think you can’t share the gospel of Jesus because you can’t go anywhere, I am living proof that the mission field begins right in your home! Who wouldn’t do everything possible to save their kids? Well, with their eternal lives at stake, shouldn’t we be doing all we can to save them? Living out our faith in church is great but how do we live at home? That’s where our family sees us most. That’s where it counts!! Oh God, please help us to understand how important it is to live out our faith in our private lives at home as well as in public! Thank you for the legacy of my family that if it wasn’t for their tenacious faith I may never have known you!!
Love you all!! Have a good day!!

Marcus Aurelius once said “be like the cliffs against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the waters around it. Standing firm. This is a strong term. If you look it up it means to refuse to change a decision or position. There are so many topics causing so much unrest in today’s world. From gender questions to when does life begin? All kinds of blurry lines it would seem. So many in fact that many don’t know what to believe. They don’t know where to stand. When I became a believer in Christ I had many questions even though I was taught the Bible from childhood. I was unable to answer questions in my own mind about hard topics let alone answer anyone else’s. Life is hard but if you have made the choice to follow Christ there is ground you can stand on and stand firm there. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 says, so then brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed onto you whether by word of mouth or by letter. We have these words today!! The letters Paul is talking about here are what we call the Bible today. Many believe it’s obsolete. Hebrews 4:12 says it’s living and active!! When we profess our faith in Jesus we can stand firm in our belief and we can trust in his word to help us calm the raging waves that break against us! His word is the ground we stand on and standing there we will not be overcome!! Thank you again and again for your precious word to us!! Thank you for giving us a place to stand our great Heavenly Father!!
Have a rockin good day!!

One of my favorite church memories were the ice cream suppers. I couldn’t eat ice cream usually but I could always have some there so I looked forward to it all year. The ladies would cook caramel and make up all the ice cream. We had five gallon hand crank ice cream makers and all the young boys would take turns cranking until the ice cream started to freeze then the men would take over and finish it. People would make homemade pies and food and people came from all over! In our little area it was a huge gathering. It took a lot of work. There are always people working in the church that do their part in serving to make sure that the gospel is given and that our spiritual growth needs are met. Pastors and teachers. Worship leaders. People running the sound equipment. People who mow the church yard and maintenance the building. Those who cook and clean for special events like meals for the youth group or other things like that. The ones that make up the bulletins and keeps the website fresh. So many workers that make it possible for us to have a place to come and worship and fellowship and learn!! In Paul’s final words in his first letter to the Thessalonians (5:12-15) he tells them to remember those who work hard among us , who care for us in the Lord and admonish us. He says to hold them in highest regard in love because of their work!! Every job done in the church from cleaning the toilets to preaching on Sunday morning is important work and those who do it should be appreciated!! Thank you Father for all of those who do so much to help us in our faith in you! Help us to show our love and appreciation for them!!
Have a joyful day!!

When I realized that farming was not gonna be a full time thing for me I wasn’t sure what to do. I tried several things. On one occasion I took a job and was told that I could learn the skill from the older more experienced men there. The problem was that those men were not informed that they were to help me at all. In fact they would intentionally tell me wrong information so that I would screw up and give them the opportunity to advance and keep me at a lower level in the company. It was frustrating. I had to learn the long hard way and really for the company it was not good. Those men didn’t have that in mind. Only themselves. That’s not really uncommon in the world. The world teaches to advance yourself as far as you can and may the strongest person win. The truth is, if we build others up then it is better for the whole group. God gave us this command as the church. 1Thessalonians 5:11 says encourage one another and build each other up as in fact you are doing! Think about the word build here. When you build, you start with the foundation and then begin building. The first followers of Christ did just that as the church began. They took the skills that Jesus gave them for holy living and passed it along to new believers teaching them the way of the Lord. They didn’t hoard the good news of Jesus’ salvation to themselves but they gave their lives to the work of building up other people and teaching them how to live a life of faith in Christ. That is why we can still have that life today!! It doesn’t matter what skill level you are in. There is always someone you can mentor and “build up””! Encouraging words during hard times and digging through the Bible with each other and praying together isn’t just a good idea. It’s vital!! We have got to quit just building up our own life and start building up others!! It’s better for the whole group!! We are a family that will share eternity!! Thank you Father for the men and woman who gave their lives to teaching others your ways and give us the desire and ability to do the same for generations to come!!
Be an encouragement to someone today! You can do it! I know you can!!

Fred and Ernie(fake names) lived just down the road from one another. Each of them thought the other one hated them so for years they passed by each other without waving or ever speaking a word. One day while heading to town Ernie’s horse got to close to the edge of the road and his buggy got stuck in the mud. He tried and tried to get him out but couldn’t. Now Fred also was heading to town and happened to go the same way. Seeing it was Ernie he passed by him. He did take a glance and noticed that Ernie looked exhausted so he turned back and offered to help. The two worked together and got the buggy out of the mud. After some conversation they realized that neither one really hated each other and over time became the best of friends. One act of kindness forged a relationship that lasted a lifetime! It a simple concept really. Luke 6:31 says do to others what you would have them do to you. I know this verse well because I had to write it two thousand times after running my mouth and hurting someone’s feelings!! That took a bit!! But I haven’t forgotten it!! Treating others the way we like to be treated is what Jesus calls loving our neighbors . If you back up to verse 27 it changes things a bit. Jesus says to love your enemies and do good to those who hate you!! Do good to those who hate us?? That’s what Fred did in today’s story. At first he was going to go on but he took a minute to think and went back. He made a friend of an enemy!! If we take a minute and think and chose then to be kind even to those who we think hate us then we are being obedient to the one who died for us while we hated him!! Let’s chose to be like Jesus!! Thank you for your word oh God that is always true and good!!
By the way, that verse written 2000 times, fills and entire notebook if you write really small!!
Have a great day!! Make sure and show love to someone today!!

Have you ever started a conversation with someone that started like this; I probably shouldn’t tell you this but I know if I tell you it won’t go any farther. Or how about this one; I’m not sure if it’s true or not but I heard. Or simply just; did you hear about. These seem like harmless conversation starters but are they really? I wish I could say I’ve never started up a conversation like that but I’d be lying if I did. The truth is if we start a conversation like that there’s a better than average chance that we are about to sin by either gossiping or out and out lying about someone. Very seldom is it a good thing to even talk about someone. Exodus 20:16 tells us not to testify falsely about a neighbor. Our neighbor here would be any other human being. Us Christians never do this do we? Let me tell you a good one I used to do until I learned my lesson. When someone was struggling and would share with me about it I would go to other believers and tell them about it asking them to pray. Seems harmless right? But I didn’t first seek permission from the person. I was so wrong!! Pastor Greg Laurie used an acronym T.H.I.N.K. Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Neccesary? Is it Kind? Before we say a word to anyone about anything we should think and ask ourselves these questions. Ephesians 4:29 says do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths but only what is helpful in building others up according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen! Trust me when I say that my toes hurt bad when I reflect about this whole topic!! May we all do better!! A little thought about others and a lot less about ourselves could go along way!! Father in Heaven , thank you for your patience and long suffering with us a sinful people!! Continue to teach us with your word that is better than any treasure on earth!!
Let us pray for one another today to think before we speak!! God’s blessings to you all!!

As a boy you could never have convinced me that there was a stronger man on earth than my Dad. Doesn’t every boy think that? He was a strong, hard working man. I never thought I’d see the day when he would grow weak. But I did. Physically weak. His body succumbed to aging. It was sad. My hero had been reduced to a shell of his former self. It was painful to see and I’m sure even more for him. We all get to experience this. Our bodies will not go on forever. Not this body. But. Yes there’s a but. But if you trust and believe in Jesus there is a day coming when he will call us up to him. 1 Corinthians 15:52 says a trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable. Imperishable!! That’s awesome!! When our bodies die we don’t. We go to be with the Lord. But at some point when God decides the time is right he will call our bodies out of the grave and we will be reunited with our body only it will be transformed into a body stronger and better than ever! It will never age or get sick or weak. What will it look like? Don’t know. What will we be able to do? Don’t know. But what I do know is that it will be invincible. Like I used to think my Dad was only this time it will be true! And we will be invincible too because of Christ’s great love for us!! I’m starting to feel the affects of age on this body and I’m looking forward to the new one! My Lord, thank you for the promise of the great days to come when you call us home to be with you! We look eagerly for that day more and more as time goes on!!
Where oh death is your sting? When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory!!
Have a blessed day!!

Many of us would never steal anything from anyone. Right? Have you ever made a little cash on the side and didn’t turn it in as income? That wasn’t a nice question was it? I think if we are honest we’ve all done something to gain for ourselves that we wouldn’t want anyone to know. In Ephesians 4 there’s a heading in my Bible that’s called instructions for Christian living. It starts at verse 17 but verse 28 stood out to me this morning. It says anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer but must work, doing something useful with their hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. Wow! I want to note that Paul is talking with believers here. Stealing at its root is a problem. When we take something we haven’t earned it shows how greedy and lazy we are. But notice in this verse it doesn’t just stop with the stealing issue. It tells us to work. Now many of us consider ourselves good workers. I know I do. But why do we work? To make a living for ourselves and our family. Right? To be able to live the life we want. Right? Why does God tell us to work? In this verse it’s very clear. So we have something to share with those in need!! It says nothing about spending our extra on ourselves because we’ve worked hard and earned it. We have been told by society to get all we can because we are worth it. Listen. I’m as guilty as anyone on this, and I’m not saying we cant have nice things but it’s our responsibility as followers of Christ to help those who are in need. There’s plenty of need around us. We just have to notice. Then act. Instead of working for ourselves and always having ourselves in mind we should be working so that we can share with others! In this way we will have the great opportunity to share the love of our Savior with others too!! Lord, all we have is yours. You gave us the ability to work and earn all that we have. In a moment it could be gone but you have blessed us. Help us to remember those in need and look for the chance to give!
When you work for God’s purposes it’s must more enjoyable than working for your own!! Have a great day!!

It was on this day his body was in the grave. Would he stay? You know it was never God’s desire for anyone to die. When he created the first man and the first woman they were perfect. If they would have obeyed him and never sinned I don’t think they would have aged. God wants us forever. But then we sinned. That changed everything. Aging, disease, death, all that came along with sin. We couldn’t fix it. Still can’t. Only God could do that. A perfect sacrifice was required. The blood shed from perfection. That was Jesus. God’s son who also being God came here and in a human body. He felt what we feel. He also was tempted but never sinned. And then brutally tortured and killed. He could have stopped it. But he didn’t. He was obedient to death. The story didn’t end there. Tomorrow he rises! The grave was empty. No body!! A full on resurrection! A brand new body! Unable to age or die. I Corinthians 15:20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead! He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died!! Do you know what this is saying!! Death has died!! Oh yes, like Jesus our bodies will die! But we will live! And we will get new bodies that will not age. We will not die again! This is the true message of Easter! He is risen!! What a hope we have if only we trust and believe!! Do you? Please consider it!! Lord, we know we cannot save ourselves! Our very heartbeat relies on you to sustain it!! Thank you for your suffering for our sake! More so thank you for killing death!! Our death!!
Be thankful today and everyday for what he has done!!

My youngest daughter asked me yesterday why they called Good Friday good? It was a good question. It poses another question . What is good. Is it good when someone commits a crime? We would likely say no. Is it good when that person is punished for the crime they committed? We would likely say yes. Justice must be done right? Is it good for an innocent person to be punished for the wrong that another person does? Well I guess most would say no unless your the person set free from the punishment right? Well if we rewind back to the first century that’s what happened. Jesus was a man who never sinned. He was God in the flesh. Perfect in every way. Yet on this day he willingly stepped into a position of taking the brutal punishment for someone else’s sin. Who’s sin? Isaiah 53:4-5 tells us. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Vs 6 says we all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has gone our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Think about this. We are guilty. The sentence? Eternal death!! Before Christ came all of us were doomed! But on this day in history Jesus stepped in and took the punishment we deserve. The punishment we have coming! Paid for. It is finished! If you trust and believe then eternal life is yours because this man stepped in and paid for your sin!! So tell me. Is that good? I can’t answer for you. I will answer for me. YES!! Because of him I no longer fear death because I am free!! It is good!!! Jesus, thank you thank you thank you!! May my life and others like me be an offering of praise back to you for all you have done for us!! It is good!!
Have a GOOD day my friends! You are dearly loved!!

Dad and I would stand at the kitchen sink on Easter after church and eat raw oysters on saltine crackers while Mom prepared a tasty meal. I can still smell it!! It’s a reminder. A memory. I’ll never eat an oyster again without thinking of my Dad. I don’t think there’s a soul out there that wants to be un remembered. Notice I didn’t say forgotten. Forgetting is just a human problem out of our control. We can’t help it when we forget things. We can choose not to remember. If we deem something worthy of remembering we will do whatever it takes not to forget. We will set reminders for ourselves in all kinds of ways. Jesus on this day many years ago was having a meal with his crew like he had many times before. But this time it was different. The weight of the cross was upon him. His concern for all of us was heavy on his mind. He gave his disciples a reminder. It was given to us as well. In Luke 22:19 Jesus takes bread and he tells them “ this is my body given for you;do this in remembrance of me. Like the bread, Jesus’ body was about to be broken. His blood about to be shed. He was telling them, hey guys, when you get together and break bread remember me. Remember the heavy price I paid for you! It’s worked! It’s been over two thousand years and we still eat the bread and drink the cup and remember him! While it should be a time of sober reflection on the suffering he took upon himself in our place it should also be a joy filled celebration! We have eternal life because of him!! Choose to remember this!! Get together with your Christian brothers and sisters and break bread with the intention of remembering Jesus Christ our Savior!! Thank you Jesus for coming!! Help us to always remember!!
Have a blessed day!!

When I begin to put a post here on Facebook it asks “what’s on your mind”? As we approach the celebration of Easter Jesus is most certainly on our minds. We think about how much he suffered. It’s hard to think about because we don’t like pain! I hate the thought that because of my sinfulness God himself had to suffer so! I weep at the thought! Jesus, around this day all those years ago, knew fully the pain he was about to endure for our sakes. Even in his anguish of heart and mind he gave us an example of how to deal with tragedy. He prayed. He spent time with his Heavenly Father. He spent time with his disciples and friends. Fellowship! It prepared him for the work ahead and there was no more important work done in the world for mankind than the work he was about to do! I cannot express enough the importance of just being with God each day and spending time with believing friends! Our lives should be lived in such a way that it brings honor to Jesus’ name and we cannot do that alone! Jesus himself didn’t!! Spend some time reading Luke 22. Really place yourself in Jesus shoes that last three days. All of it was for us to be saved and him to be glorified! Let us who profess to believe follow his example. Let us love like he loves! Forgive like he forgives! Give like he gives!! Jesus, so many use your name frivolously. To so many your just another historic figure. Not to us who have experienced your forgiveness! Not to us who know your great love!! Help us to strengthen one another in prayer and fellowship and do the work you give us to do!!
Remember him!! Today and everyday!!

I am so easily distracted. It’s a quality i loathe about myself. The problem is that whatever distracts me becomes the center of my focus. Yes, I can focus, but then when something distracts me my focus shifts and then I’m off on another trail!! Am I the only one who does this? I’m like a dog who sees a squirrel and has to chase it!! To arm myself against this I try to get into a routine. I get out of bed. Walk the dog and pray as we walk along. Go up and have coffee with the guys. Come home and do a devotion. Go work. And so on. But sometimes life throws you curveballs. My routine gets messed up. I leave something out like praying or Bible study. Then my focus gets shifted and the next thing you know some old sin I thought I had conquered comes sneaking in the back door!! Here’s what I’m so thankful for. Jesus came and he came intentionally to give his life and then take it up again to save those who are weak! Like me! Those who no matter how hard they try can’t keep themselves from making mistakes. It’s good to keep fighting and trying but there’s something you need to know. He loves you! Not just when things are going good and life’s a big old blessing! He loves you when your mired down with trouble! He’s the one there to pull you up!! Thank you Jesus for loving me when I clearly don’t deserve it!! Teach me to love like you do!!
Put on your Jesus glasses and stay focused on him today!!

I like to hunt. I grew up hunting and it has always been part of my life. If I’m hunting deer then all of my senses are tuned in to deer. They blend into their surroundings well so you have to keep your eyes focused looking for movement. Once you see a deer you focus on it so hard that almost everything else becomes a blur. All you can see is the deer. If you look away though the deer can vanish from your sight!! In life there are many things we can focus on. Hebrew 12:1-2 tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus. Why? Well it says first of all that he is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. He endured the shame and pain of the cross. He rose again from death and is now seated at the right hand of our Heavenly Father. If we focus on him all the sinful distractions of life blur out. If we focus on him we can look forward to the day when we will see him face to face!! How can we claim to be his follower when he is in the background and our focus is on everything else? It’s our choice! We can focus on whatever we want but sometimes what we want isn’t best for us. Let’s take the advice of the author of Hebrews and focus on the one who came to save us because of his great love!! Thank you Jesus for coming!! Help us to fix our eyes on you and never look away!!
Keep your eyes on the prize! Jesus Jesus Jesus!!

Friday I went into the surgical room to have a device implanted into my body that helps with sleep apnea. When I went in I had a beard. For most of my adult life I’ve had a beard. It differs in length at times but I still have it. When I came to after the surgery I had no beard! At all!! I was a bit miffed at first but after some thought and consideration to the matter I concluded that the surgeon, who is very good, made a choice on my behalf that was best for me. I trusted him to do the right things or I would never have let them put me to sleep! There are times in our lives that harmful things cross our path and we either don’t see them as harmful or don’t know what to do about it. That is where putting your trust in the Holy Trinity is so vital. You see, sometimes we pray and don’t know what to ask. Or maybe we don’t know so we just don’t pray. The good news is that God knows. Romans 8:28 tells us that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in prayer when we don’t know what to say. If we trust him, God will take care of things. It may not always look like what we would like it to. Like the doctor cutting my beard. It helps in keeping out infection, helps the wound heal better, and helps him do a better job without all that hair in his way. Maybe God needs to remove some things from our lives so he can better do his work through us!! Thank you dearest Lord for working for our good and your glory!!
Have a good day of worship today!!

I used to have a very hard time deciding whether to obey my parents or to just do what I wanted. Now usually what I wanted seemed at the time much more appealing. What I didn’t see were the troubles or pain it would cause, but my parents knew. So I had a choice to make. Often I would chose my own way and find out exactly why my folks didn’t want me to do that! What I lacked was a healthy fear of my parents. You might think it’s a bad thing to fear but there is such a thing as good fear. Mr Webster gives four different meanings for the word. One of them is a profound reverence and awe especially towards God. This is the fear I lacked. It got me into a lot of trouble!! There are many Bible verses about fearing God. Many of them say that fearing God brings wisdom. If I would have had a reverence for my parents, who loved me and wanted what’s best for me, then I would have saved myself a lot of heartache! Wisdom! But I didn’t. Foolish. It’s the same with our attitude towards God. If we study our bibles we learn what God wants us too do, and not to do. If we have a profound reverence and awe of God then when we are faced with a choice to do what he desires or not do what he desires us not to we will make the right choice! Wisdom! He loves us so much more than anyone else and he doesn’t ask us to do things that will harm us and warns us against doing things that will. Psalm 115:13 says he will bless those who fear the Lord. The small as well as the great! If we fear God then we have nothing else to fear!! Praise be to you God our a Savior for it is you alone that we fear! Give us wisdom not as the world sees wisdom but the wisdom that comes from you!!
Do you want to be blessed today? Fear God!!

I worked with a man years ago named Emil. Emil grew up in Germany. There when you were around five years of age they gave you a test to take and based on the results they would prepare a list of occupations for you to chose from. You then would chose one and from then on your entire education would be centered on that occupation. You would even work with accomplished craftsmen as an apprentice. The goal was to achieve excellence in productivity and craftsmanship. It worked because Emil was one of the best in his trade!! When Jesus was about to leave the earth and return to heaven he gave his disciples a commission. Matthew 28:19-20 says, therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age!! When we put our trust in Jesus and begin to live the Christian life there’s a lot we don’t know. How are we to know if we don’t have someone to come alongside us and teach us? Jesus was telling his disciples to make disciples. We can’t just tell people the good news of Jesus and then wipe our hands and walk away. The job isn’t finished!! Like Emil’s master craftsmen who came alongside him and taught him the ways of their craft, so we too are to come alongside others who are younger in the faith. We need to teach them the importance of fellowship, Bible study, prayer and having a relationship with Jesus! By doing this we too are making disciples and generations to come will know the way to salvation and how to live it out in their daily lives! Dear Jesus, thank you for teaching your disciples the most excellent way and for them handing down what they learned that has made its way to us! Help us to keep making disciples!!
I love you my friends! Have a great day!

Abortion is a big topic of today and one of the arguments it has brought out is the time life actually begins. Well, I’m going to throw a twist to that argument. When we say life begins, that’s actually when death begins. Our bodies begin aging immediately after we become who we are, and they will age to death. Yeah it’s an ugly thought!! I don’t like it. Nobody likes it!! So that being said I have a different question. When does eternal life begin? Many think that it will begin at our death if we believe in Christ. I however, believe that our true life begins the moment we put our trust in God and Jesus our Savior and that life is eternal. John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die; and the one who lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe me? Jesus asked this question to a woman named Martha. He is asking it to us today. Yes our body will die but if we believe in him we will never die! The very moment our heart stops beating we will be trust into the very presence of God!! Having this truth in our hearts gives us all kinds of strength to endure the hardships of this life. They are temporary but we are eternal in Christ!! Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:16 that even though we are wasting away we are being renewed day by day on the inside. Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us eternal rewards that far outweighs them all!! That sounds better doesn’t it?? My friends, in Christ we are more alive than we have ever been and we are more than conquerors through him who gives us this life!! Thank you Lord Jesus for giving us life and life abundantly!!
Don’t live like there’s no tomorrow! Live like there’s a million of them!!

So when someone in our lives hurts us in some way and they come seeking forgiveness it’s safe to say we would forgive them right? I mean that’s what we do. What about someone who has hurt us and doesn’t come seeking forgiveness? What if they think they were not doing anything wrong and we were really hurt and we see it that they were wrong? Then what? Is it okay for us to hold our forgiveness until they apologize? What if they never apologize?
There seems to be this thought out there that it’s a sign of strength to hold a grudge against someone when they have done us wrong. WRONG!! Holding a grudge is actually a weakness! It’s harmful to both people in the relationship!
We have no control over what the other person does but we certainly do have on how we react to it. Let’s ask ourselves this. What if Jesus reacted to us like we react to others? Whoa! I don’t know about you folks but when I ask myself that question it hits me where it hurts!! Jesus has forgiven me of sooo much!! I didn’t always have the most apologetic attitude either!! Christians are supposed to be a display to the world of Christ-like behavior right? And how much did he forgive? Did he leave any offense unforgiven in your life, even the really bad stuff? He didn’t mine either!! So if we are forgiven, how can we not forgive anyone else? Colossians 3:12-13 says as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, gentleness, humility and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. It did not say forgive only certain things but it’s okay not to forgive other things! It said forgive as the lord forgave you.
Walking through this life as a forgiven child of God isn’t always easy. Forgiving can be hard. Forgiving ourselves can be hard to! Remember this, that Christ gave his life for us so that complete forgiveness could be ours! Let us who have been forgiven, forgive!! Thank you Jesus for erasing our sins against you!! Help us to erase those things done to us as well!!
Have a grudge free day!!

It’s fun to ask crazy questions to little kids. You never know whats gonna come out. If you ask a little kid how many years they will live they might answer something like “ a billion bazillion years!! “ they are young and full of life and the idea that something could happen to them just isn’t part of their young undeveloped minds. As I grow older, I said older not old, I am becoming more aware of how time goes so fast! Not one of us knows just how long we have here on planet earth. Psalm 90:12 says teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom. What could that possibly mean? Well, if we take a close look at it, the first part says teach us to number our days. What if we actually took time to see how fleeting life is? How temporary? Have you ever known someone that was told they only had a short time left to live? They start doing everything they can with the short time they have. They value every breath. Every heartbeat!! So what if we looked at our life like we only had today? What would you do today? Who would you talk to? What would you tell them? What if we lived every day like that? Are you seeing now how wisdom grows when you look at how short your time is? There are people in your life who need Jesus. It true! I know I have people in mine that do. So why do I wait to tell them about Jesus? Why do I not take time to just be kind to someone? Instead of tapping my foot because the people in front of me at Walmart are taking too long why don’t I take a minute to say a kind word? Who knows? That could be my last day here. What if my last moment on earth was spent being impatient or rude instead of kind and loving? Friends, I think we all live like we have a billion bazillion years but I’m sorry to say we don’t. Let’s gain some wisdom and start living like tomorrow isn’t coming!! Let’s love like there’s no tomorrow!! Dear God, I thank you for every beat of our hearts! Our every breath! Help us to remember how fragile our life is and live out our lives in gratitude to you and kindness to others!!
Have a glorious day and remember to love someone today!!

I loved to hear my Dad talk about what life was like when he was a kid. They didn’t have television in those days. They would often get together with their neighbors. The adults would visit while the kids would play together outside. When work needed done, they would help each other. It was a community. Then came the tv. It didn’t take long for life to change. Instead of hanging out with friends it was stay at home cause there was a show I want to watch. Neighbors no longer had time to help each other. Well that little trick of satan seemed to do it’s thing. The tv became so important that we even make it the centerpiece of our living rooms! It’s our god in a box. Well that wasn’t enough. He needed families distancing from each other too. So along came laptops and smartphones! Next thing you know little Johnny is in his room on his gaming system, Suzie is on her phone making tic toc videos and mom is on her laptop and dad is watching YouTube. Nobody talks to each other. We are alone. Depression is at an all time high especially amongst teens and teen suicide is climbing!! We were not created to be alone!! So with all this church is no longer a priority to many and the true believers who do go, most of us anyway, only see our church family on Sunday. Now how is that supposed to work? If your thinking 🤔 it’s not, your right!! It’s not how God wants it to be. So how do we fix this problem? We get together! It’s not rocket science. Invite people to your house. Go see people!! We have ourselves believing this lie that we don’t have time. Really? How many times have you asked someone over and you hear I can’t. I’ve got too much going on in life right now but I really want to. Nope. If you really wanted to you would. Look, I know I’m being kind of snarky here but we all have time to mess around on our devices. How long does it take to drop by and visit with someone? You don’t have to wear out your welcome. It doesn’t have to be an all night thing. Some of the best times in my life have been unexpected conversations! It’s about loving each other and making others a priority! Hebrews 10:23-25 says, let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other- and all the more as we see the Day approaching. Read that a couple times and let it sink in! When I did I was seriously convicted!! All this I’ve been harping about? Yeah me too!! So how can we help, encourage, spur on, and love each other when we barely even know each other? How do we know each other without seeing each other? My dear friends we have to get back to a way of life where our doors are open to each other! Where when a friend stops by it’s a blessing, and not an imposition!! We need to see each other more than just the occasional Sunday morning where we go in and “ do church” and then rush home to our little havens and be alone!! Let’s get together!! Dear God, how did we get so far away from you? How did we get so far from each other? Lord we need you and each other!! Help us to start loving each other and not from a distance!!
Go see someone!! They might be shocked at first but trust me they will be happy you did!! The Day is approaching!!!

There’s no doubt that technology has changed the world. In some ways the changes are good. Some not so good. Having knowledge at my fingertips is pretty cool. Like the Bible app. I can look up verses anytime, anywhere. It’s always with me because my phone is always with me. There is a thing I’ve seen that bothers me. I’m old enough to have seen life on both sides of it. Before the cell phone days, if you wanted to talk to a friend then you went to see them. Face to face. In a face to face there’s an element of communication that you get that a phone can’t give you. It’s the nonverbal signals. We can actually read people and there eye movements, facial expressions, and body language and have a decent idea if they are happy or sad or angry and so on. During these interactions there’s an emotional involvement that takes place and a responsibility to deal with emotions. For example if you do happen to upset someone then your part is to set it right. During this process real friendships are formed and trust is built between you. Today however, like here on Facebook, or texting, or snapping, or tweeting we have the ability to just simply not respond. If we want to great, if we don’t great. There’s no real way of knowing what the other person is thinking because all of the personal interactions are missing. Without it it’s hard to form a real friendship. The kind where problems arise and are dealt with rather than simply avoiding a response and never talking again. We call ourselves “ friends” and don’t get me wrong we can be but what I am saying is that without being together in person how can we be true friends? Is it possible? The isolation is hard on us because we were created to have fellowship. To laugh together, cry together, to help each other. True love takes work and sometimes even hard painful moments and I’m thinking that technology has taken an element away from us leaving us with shallow friendships that haven’t been tested and tried. We can change it. We can quit just chatting online and like actually get together. As far as I know none of us bite!! Lol friends are important. Vital even!! Hebrews 10:25 says don’t give up meeting together. So let’s don’t!! Call someone up. Invite them over or out or whatever it takes. Let’s be real friends!! Dear God, life is lonely. We have gotten so far from each other! Help us to get back together and love each other the way you intended for us to do!!
I love you people!! Go see someone today. It’ll freak them out! It’ll be fun!!!!

Many Bible scholars have studied the end times prophecies. I’m not one of them. I’m just a simple man who reads the Bible and with God’s help I understand a little bit of it. I know the word rapture can’t be found but the event of the rapture can. The word rapture means caught up. It’s found in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Paul explains that when it happens, those who have died believing in Christ, will be first to be “ caught up” and then those who are still alive will be “caught up” to meet them in the air. And then it says we will be with the Lord forever. I believe that will be the next big event from Bible prophecy. What I have found comforting about this is that when we lose our loved ones they are not forgotten by God. In fact they are so important to him that they get to go first!! Many of us can remember vividly our parents or maybe even our grandparents but how many remember much farther? After 100 years or more have passed many of us will be forgotten here in earth but God will never forget!! He holds us in his hand forever and on that great day when we will all be reunited, not one of us who has put our trust in Christ will be forgotten!! Not one!!! We don’t know when it will happen but we do know that it will. God said so. So don’t waist a single minute. Make sure to tell people you meet and your loved ones about Jesus’ salvation!! He is coming!! Dear Lord, thank you for remembering us! We look for your coming!!
Keep your eye on the sky and your feet on the ground!! Have a day full of wonder and blessing!!

How do you measure success? By results right? We gage our success in most cases by seeing results of our labor come together. Like building a house for example. It’s a process but as each day passes you see the results until finally it’s done. Success!! Missionary George Smith died on his knees praying for Africa. He went there to share the gospel with them and after a short time was driven out of the country. Only one person accepted Christ. He left a Bible behind there and after some time the Bible was found and also the one person and after 100 years had passed over 13000 people had come to Christ. All traced back to George Smith. He died not knowing the results. Noah was another such man. 2Peter2:5 calls him a preacher of righteousness. He lived 120 years and watched every human being on earth other than his family die in a flood. He might not have seen a single person saved but his faith is still an example to us today. We don’t always see the success in our sharing Christ with others. Maybe you have told your family and friends about Jesus and not a single one responded. Invited people to church but none of them came. Even though it can be discouraging God can take our obedience and do great things with it. Like George Smith for example. He never did know how successful his testimony was in Africa but he never stopped praying for them!! He never gave up!! He was found faithful and God added a great number of people to his forever family by one mans willingness to pray for a people who had cast him out!! Never give up!! Keep sharing and keep praying! Let us die on our knees praying for those who have seemed to reject Christ!! Only God knows and sees the whole story!! And it is him who should receive the glory for it!! Dear God, help us not to look for our own success in sharing you with others. Help us to just be obedient to the work you’ve given us to do and praise you in heaven for the results!!
Have a good day and keep sharing!!

Do you know the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat? A thermometer tells us what the temperature is. A thermostat changes the temperature. Society has a temperature. In society there are two kinds of people. Thermometers, those who go along living like everyone else. They show us the temperature. The thermometer of today’s society is saying that the Bible is an old outdated book. Fiction stories. Do whatever makes you feel good. There’s no hell or punishment for sin. On and on. Are you a thermometer? Then there are thermostats. These are people who change the temperature. They live out their faith. They believe the Bible is God’s word to us. They believe it’s true. They are the true rebels. They don’t bend to society or conform to its ways. Are they perfect? No. But they have faith in God. Hebrews 11, often called the hall of faith, has a list of such people. I encourage you to read it. Look up their stories. They lived lives different from those around them and changed lives by their faith. One was a prostitute who by faith put her own life in danger and by doing it saved her whole family. One built a boat when it had never rained. One delivered God’s people by taking them through the sea on dry land. There’s more but I can’t type it all here. God mentioned theses imperfect people to show us that we too can be thermostats. We can change lives!! By faith! God isn’t looking for ability; he’s looking for availability. He doesn’t call the qualified; he qualifies the called!! We are believers in Christ. We are the called. Let’s make ourselves available!! Let’s be rebels and change the temperature of our communities and towns. It could change the whole world if we all put our faith in action like those in Hebrews 11!! Dear God, help us not to just be yours in name only. Give us an unshakable faith! Make us the thermostats of your world!!
Make a difference and be blessed today!

Who remembers the old Heinz ketchup commercials? It used to come in a glass bottle and it was thick. There were many different techniques to getting the ketchup to come out quicker. The commercial had a jingle that said “anticipation is making me wait”! The implication was that Heinz ketchup was worth the wait. The line in the jingle is so true. Anticipating something that you look forward to makes you wait!! Often times it even seems like time slows down and if we dwell on it we can get impatient. We are so used to getting everything in an instant. So for those who have believed in Jesus we eagerly anticipate his return. It’s been a long time. It’s easy to get impatient and as we see the world falling deeper into sin it’s also easy to wonder why he hasn’t come already!! While during the wait we question, if we search the Bible we can often find answers. 2 Peter 3:9 says, the Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise as people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent.
God has a purpose in his timing!! We wait with eager anticipation for his return but the world doesn’t even know him. He stands at the door of many hearts and knocks. All they need to do is open the door. That’s why he waits. There are those out there, and we don’t know who but God knows, that have not opened the door yet. Some won’t and that’s sad but some will!! Those are the ones who God in his love and divine patience waits for!! So in our waiting, we should share with anyone we can, the hope we have in Christ!! Who knows? That might be one who will open the door!! Time will always pass by quicker when we are busy. So yes look forward to his coming, but don’t just stand there looking at the sky!! Get out there and do the work God left for us to do!! The next thing you know, he will be here!!! Jesus, we find waiting to be hard but help us to focus on sharing you with as many people as we can!!
Have a great day!!

I just want to say how amazing Gods word is. You can study it over and over again and you just keep learning from it. Sometimes one or two verses can teach you such a valuable lesson! I was reading a devotional this morning and the author was teaching from 1 chronicles 5:18-22. Now I have always struggled reading chronicles because it’s a lot of what seems like endless genealogies but this morning this passage popped a bit of a lesson! It said that the sons of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh were drawn into battle with the Hagrites. It goes on to say that God delivered the Hagrites and their allies into their hands because they cried out to God during the battle. It says that God helped them because they trusted in him!! We all have battles in life. We often try to fight them on our own. I just want to encourage you this morning with this: we don’t have to fight on our own!!!! We too can call out to God right there on the battlefield no matter what that battlefield might be. Whether it be marital issues, a death in the family, finances or sin issues, it doesn’t matter. If you cry out to God and here’s the key part; if you trust in God he will help you!! God is not some giant in the sky that doesn’t care! He is a personal God who loves us!! Thank you God for your word. Thank you for hearing our cries and coming to the rescue!!
Strap on your armor today (Ephesians 6:10-17) and fight with Gods help!!

I was reading a daily bread devotional this morning and the topic was correction. I had to laugh a little as I remembered my son. When he was a little boy and he was about to do something that might be harmful, like sticking a finger in a light socket, and I would tell him no he would close his eyes and shudder!! His whole body would shake in disgust of hearing the word no. He wasn’t even two years of age yet! How can we argue that we are born with a natural bent towards rebellion? How can we say we are not sinners? Can any of us say that we enjoy being corrected? I know I don’t like it!! I have found that after coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus and giving him the steering wheel of my life that some much needed correction has taken place!! Not gonna say I liked it much!! But I have enjoyed the results! It’s good not to feel guilty all the time. It’s even better to not be guilty all the time! Correction when done in love, which is always the case with Christ, can be quite beneficial to our overall well-being. In Luke 10:38-42 we are told about a woman named Martha who invited Jesus and his crew to come into her home. As she prepared food and waited on them her sister sat there and listened to Jesus. Now Martha wasn’t very happy about that and she mentioned it to Jesus wanting him to do something about it. He gently brought it to her attention that she wasn’t thinking correctly about the situation. Now I’m sure that Martha didn’t like hearing it but she responded well to the correction because she became his faithful follower and friend!! That’s why he did it! He loved her! And he loves us too! That’s why we need correction from time to time! So we can be even closer to Jesus!! Thank you Father for your loving and gentle corrections that keep us safe and draw us near to you!!
Have a good weekend my friends!!

When my Dad was a young boy he was with his mom at Roger’s dime store in Augusta. There was a whistle there that he wanted but he didn’t have the money for it so he slipped it into his pocket and took it home. He couldn’t bring himself to blow it because he knew what he had done was wrong. He couldn’t carry it with him because he said that even though it was only a couple ounces it felt like a couple of tons. So he hid it. For years he kept it. After he got home from the army, now a grown man, he took the whistle back to the dime store. The same lady was still working there and he told her what he had done. He tried to pay her but she told him he was forgiven. The debt was paid. She had seen him take it and the fact that he finally came and confessed was good enough for her. He stepped outside of the store and for the very first time he blew the whistle!! He was free!! We all have a whistle in our pocket from time to time! We sometimes hang onto them for awhile. Those sins get heavy and we can’t hardly carry them. 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness! We can’t possibly confess every single sin or that’s all we would get done. But when God makes you aware of a sin it is most beneficial to confess it,seek his forgiveness,and when you do your fellowship with God will be restored. Then you will be free!! The weight of your sin will be lifted!! Just like the kind lady in the store forgave Dad and didn’t want him to feel guilty, so it is with God! He doesn’t want you to carry around that heavy sin!! That guilt! He is ready to forgive!! Thank you so much Jesus, for coming to pay for our sins!!
Confess your sins!! Blow your whistle!! It’ll be great!!

Dad and I were working on building hog houses one winter day when an archer oil salesman stopped by. He visited with Dad for awhile and without even talking about oil he left a business card laying on our workbench. A couple of months later he stops by and visits, again not really ever bringing up his product, and it seemed as though Dad really enjoyed talking with him. After several visits from him Dad asked him about his products and ended up purchasing some and became a regular customer. He didn’t have to even push his product. Dad asked him!! The man realized that if he didn’t first build a relationship then he would have just been another salesman. Two things came from this. He gained a friend and a loyal customer!! That’s what we call a win win!! For a long time I think that we have worked hard at getting people to church with the idea that if we could get them to church they might come to know Christ. I’m not going to argue that but what if we have been missing something? What if instead of trying so hard to get them to church we put that same effort into just being their friend? What if we took an interest in their life and spent time with them? If we live Godly lives according to the Bible, which looks different or should, and then build friendships with people by being kind and actually showing people that they matter to us, they might just ask us about why we are different. Then we can share Jesus with them and they will be more open to listen. I really believe that more people would come to know Jesus if the church, that being us who believe, would go to them instead of us expecting them to come to us. Jesus went out and built relationships with people. A lot of times it was the outcasts that he went to. We need to just start loving people! Thank you Jesus for coming to us! Help us to follow your example and go out and make friends!!
Love you all!!

I marvel at the intelligence of people. You could say envy but that’s a sin so I’m gonna say marvel. I’ve never considered myself a smart man. I like to observe people and when I hear them speak about things or see what they do I’m like wow! How did they come up with that?? It used to bother me because I wanted to be like that, but as I’ve aged I have come to realize there are different kinds of “smart”. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m not going to design the next big thing or rule a nation and I’m good with it. I’m simple! It’s okay. Maybe some of you are too. If you think so then listen to this. Psalm 19:7 says, the instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. I love God’s word!! There’s hope for anyone who reads it!! Did you hear that last line? It makes wise the simple!! That means that we don’t have to be in the top of the most intelligent to gain wisdom. And the wisdom it’s talking about here isn’t given to us by another human beings idea of what’s wise. It’s God’s wisdom!! Isn’t that exciting!! It’s for everyone who seeks it from his word!! Even simple folks like me. Now there are some who think they already have all the wisdom they need. I hope I never get to that place! Seeking wisdom from the most intelligent being to ever exist, our Creator, is a treasure hunt for a lifetime. There’s no finish line. You don’t get to a point where you know it all. Would you want to? The joy of life is in the chase! What are you chasing after? Is it man’s idea of wisdom? Or God’s? As for me, I’m chasing God’s wisdom! Thank you Lord for your word. Thank you for giving us wisdom as we explore the pages of your great book!!
May God’s word richly bless you with all kinds of wisdom!!

One evening when I was a teenager my folks were gone and I was getting ready to go out for the evening. We lived in the country down a lane. I stepped out of the shower and I could see lights on in the kitchen. They were not on when I got into the shower!! My heart started pounding and I stepped into the kitchen to find a stranger standing there! I’m not sure who was more afraid? Me or him!! He bolted out the door and ran!! We would never even think about letting a robber into our homes would we? They only come in to steal and do harm. It’s no secret, or at least I hope it’s not, that I believe in Jesus. I hope you do to. Did you know that if you are a Christ follower then you have nothing to fear? All throughout the Bible, God tells us not to fear. The only good fear is the fear of God. That fear is a reverence and respect for his power and authority and if we follow him it shouldn’t be a bad thing. But what about other fears? Joshua 1:9 says have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go! Fear comes to rob us!! It will leave us paralyzed, unable to do the things we are supposed to do. It robs us of the joy and peace that is ours in Christ!! In John 14:27 Jesus says peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid! We do not have to let fear in!! We can lock the door on fear and live our lives in the power that is available through Jesus Christ our Lord! He is with us wherever we go!! Thank you so much for giving us not a Spirit of fear but of power, of love and a sound mind our Lord!!
Charge into your day!! Do not fear for God is with you!!

Have you ever taken an assessment of your life as a Christ follower and wondered just exactly what am I doing for the kingdom of God? I often question or second guess myself especially on this subject. Am I doing enough? Am I doing what God wants me to do? Am I doing it his way? If your like me and you have these questions then good news!! It’s normal. Questioning doesn’t have to be a negative thing. In fact without a question there would be no answer. Who you ask is important. John F Kennedy said” ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” If you take this quote and replace the word country with God it would be a great question. We so often go to God asking him to do all these things for us, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but how often do we ask him what we can do for him? When your questioning whether or not you are doing anything for Jesus the best thing to do is ask God; what can I do for your glory? How may I serve you? He will help you see the countless opportunities!! Serving God and the desire to do so is one of the ways we can confirm that we are his!! If you don’t believe me, I challenge you to ask him. The next thing you know you’ll be helping people in all kinds of ways and serving others is one of the ways we can serve God!! Dear God, how can we serve you today? How can we bring glory to your name?
I hope you have a very blessed day!!

Have you ever taken an assessment of your life as a Christ follower and wondered just exactly what am I doing for the kingdom of God? I often question or second guess myself especially on this subject. Am I doing enough? Am I doing what God wants me to do? Am I doing it his way? If your like me and you have these questions then good news!! It’s normal. Questioning doesn’t have to be a negative thing. In fact without a question there would be no answer. Who you ask is important. John F Kennedy said” ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” If you take this quote and replace the word country with God it would be a great question. We so often go to God asking him to do all these things for us, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but how often do we ask him what we can do for him? When your questioning whether or not you are doing anything for Jesus the best thing to do is ask God; what can I do for your glory? How may I serve you? He will help you see the countless opportunities!! Serving God and the desire to do so is one of the ways we can confirm that we are his!! If you don’t believe me, I challenge you to ask him. The next thing you know you’ll be helping people in all kinds of ways and serving others is one of the ways we can serve God!! Dear God, how can we serve you today? How can we bring glory to your name?
I hope you have a very blessed day!!

How does it make you feel when you see God taken out of everything? No more Ten Commandments in the courthouse? No prayer in school? It makes me sad. Why would anyone want to? God is good! His commandments are good! They are so important! If we as a society would follow them so many things would be better. Let’s take a look at just the first one. Exodus 20:3 you shall have no other gods before me. A religious leader once asked Jesus which one of the commandments was the most important. (Mark12:30-31)He said love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And second love your neighbor as yourself. Study that over in your mind a few minutes! If we actually loved God as Jesus described it here we would be so focused on pleasing God that following his commands would be a delight!! And then if we coupled that with caring for our neighbors, meaning people, as much as we cared for ourselves, how much better do you think society would look today? If we say we love God but we don’t act like it then do we really? Dear God, every day you help us, provide for us, love us and still we ignore you so much of the day!! Forgive us. Forgive me!! Help us to love you,Love your commands, and Love our neighbors!!
God bless you my dear friends!! Have a great one!

The Lord presses things to share with y’all on my heart and some days it just flows out of me but today is hard. It’s hard because what I’m gonna share with you today is one of my biggest failures. Teaching Jesus to our children. I hope not to offend anyone and keep in mind that this is a lesson as much for me as it is anyone. Our generation was fortunate enough to have parents and grandparents who found it important that we go to Sunday school and church. Many of us grew up in the church and witnessed our families going almost every week. I can’t hardly think of a Sunday my family missed even on vacation. My parents took us and even when I protested we went. Now I was a rebellious young lad and it was many years before I came to have a relationship with Christ but I might never have if it wasn’t for having a background rooted in the word of God. Sadly my generation has dropped the ball. When my older kids were growing up I wasn’t living for the Lord so it wasn’t important to me to teach the gospel, that is the good news of Jesus coming, to them. My mom was good about doing it but I failed to teach it at home or to consistently take them to church. It’s important. No it’s vital!! Our children’s eternal life is at stake!! Who would throw their child into a fire? Nobody would right? I was just pondering this morning as I prayed that how much different is doing that than not teaching them the way to be saved? I know this seems harsh to say but isn’t it true? In Mathew 19:13-15 people were taking their kids to see Jesus so he could lay hands on them. The disciples rebuked them for doing that but Jesus told them “let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Then he went ahead and laid his hands on them. Our kids are important to Jesus and should be to us. The future of this nation doesn’t lay in the hands of the government. It’s in our children’s hands. What we teach them about right and wrong, the values we place in them from a young age is so important! I know there were folks that went to church when I was a kid that may not believe themselves but they at least saw the value of biblical teaching for their children so they could have the knowledge to make a decision of their own. The truth is that Jesus came here to give his life so that we could be forgiven of our sin and he rose again to life so that we could have the promise of eternal life! Our kids need to know this!! I’m so thankful that my parents, even under protest at times, were diligent in their resolve to take us to church and Sunday school. My eternal life depended on it. Let’s get back to taking our kids to Jesus! He wants to see them!! The kingdom of heaven was made for such as these!! Dear Jesus, I’m so sorry for failing my children and you! For having such good teaching and keeping it to myself!! Help us all to be more concerned for the eternal welfare of our next generation than just the here and now. For your glory!! Amen
Smile and show someone you love them today!! God bless!

Solitude. Awhile after God created Adam he decided it wasn’t good for him to be alone so he caused Adam to go into a deep sleep and pulled out one of his ribs and created a woman. We were not meant to be alone but we do see from God’s word there is a time for it. It was when Moses was alone tending his father in laws sheep that God came to him in the burning bush to prepare him to lead God’s people out of egypt. Moses went up on a mountain again alone when God gave him the Ten Commandments. Jacob was alone when he wrestled with God. Paul , alone in prison wrote letters to churches which many are now in the Bible. John, exiled to an island wrote the book of revelation after being given a vision from God that tells us of our future. Jesus often sought solitude to pray. It is when we are in solitude that God speaks to us and we can pray and heed his voice. Life is noisy. Seeking a quiet place to be with God is good. Often it’s during those times that God gives us what we need to do his will. Maybe this time of solitude that we think is because of COVID-19 is really God getting the attention of his people? Maybe he’s preparing us for something. If we take this time to pray and study his word and seek his will as individuals all together imagine what could be done when we all get together again?? It could be exciting to see!! I have went through a time of pouting about all this but lately I’ve realized how God has been working with me on the inside and now I praise him for it!! I urge all of you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to seek alone time with him and his word! You won’t regret it!! Dear Father, thank you for your word to us. Help us, like the saints that have gone before us, to seek time alone with you so you can prepare us to do a good work for your glory and honor!!
Have a blessed day my friends!!

My boys and I were working on a roof one day and it was very windy. After awhile we all were feeling tired. One of them asked why he was so tired because we hadn’t been there all that long. I told him it’s the wind. In an effort to explain how working in the wind is more tiring than on a quiet day I put my hand on his shoulder and began to apply pressure. Slow at first then I would push harder then let up and then harder again. His body would instinctively push against my hand. Harder when I was pushing harder and less when I let up. That’s how your body does in the wind. Constantly working against it. By the end of the day you need much rest so your body can recover and be ready for the next task. Our hearts and minds are no different. They need rest too. When I first came to know Christ and became one of his I was determined I was going to stop sinning. I know I’m crazy right? Needless to say that didn’t happen. But I tried. I fought so hard against it that soon I was so exhausted that I was ready to give up! It’s easy to live a sinful life you see. It’s our nature. But to not sin goes against our nature so we are constantly fighting against it like the wind. So I’ve learned we need rest. We can overcome sin or at least the regular habits of sin that we have but understand we are human and we will fail from time to time(daily)but rest is vital if we are going to fight against it. God gave us this example of rest in Genesis 2:2-3. After he had created all things in six days on the seventh day he rested from his work. His set that day apart and made it holy. He did this to show us our need for rest. Spiritual rest. How? Well for one we spend time daily in his word(the Bible) so that we can strengthen ourselves just like when we exercise for our bodies. We pray. Spending time talking to God each day can relieve us of the pressures of everyday life. Fellowship with other believers. This is important because we cannot do this alone!! We can give each other encouragement and pray for each other!! And church. Yes church. We need to go and worship and study and take communion and rest together!! If we are going to fight the good fight and struggle against the dark forces of the world we need rest!! Dear God, thank you for this precious gift of rest!! Help us not to forget to do it in our crazy lives!!

My boys and I were working on a roof one day and it was very windy. After awhile we all were feeling tired. One of them asked why he was so tired because we hadn’t been there all that long. I told him it’s the wind. In an effort to explain how working in the wind is more tiring than on a quiet day I put my hand on his shoulder and began to apply pressure. Slow at first then I would push harder then let up and then harder again. His body would instinctively push against my hand. Harder when I was pushing harder and less when I let up. That’s how your body does in the wind. Constantly working against it. By the end of the day you need much rest so your body can recover and be ready for the next task. Our hearts and minds are no different. They need rest too. When I first came to know Christ and became one of his I was determined I was going to stop sinning. I know I’m crazy right? Needless to say that didn’t happen. But I tried. I fought so hard against it that soon I was so exhausted that I was ready to give up! It’s easy to live a sinful life you see. It’s our nature. But to not sin goes against our nature so we are constantly fighting against it like the wind. So I’ve learned we need rest. We can overcome sin or at least the regular habits of sin that we have but understand we are human and we will fail from time to time(daily)but rest is vital if we are going to fight against it. God gave us this example of rest in Genesis 2:2-3. After he had created all things in six days on the seventh day he rested from his work. His set that day apart and made it holy. He did this to show us our need for rest. Spiritual rest. How? Well for one we spend time daily in his word(the Bible) so that we can strengthen ourselves just like when we exercise for our bodies. We pray. Spending time talking to God each day can relieve us of the pressures of everyday life. Fellowship with other believers. This is important because we cannot do this alone!! We can give each other encouragement and pray for each other!! And church. Yes church. We need to go and worship and study and take communion and rest together!! If we are going to fight the good fight and struggle against the dark forces of the world we need rest!! Dear God, thank you for this precious gift of rest!! Help us not to forget to do it in our crazy lives!!

My boys and I were working on a roof one day and it was very windy. After awhile we all were feeling tired. One of them asked why he was so tired because we hadn’t been there all that long. I told him it’s the wind. In an effort to explain how working in the wind is more tiring than on a quiet day I put my hand on his shoulder and began to apply pressure. Slow at first then I would push harder then let up and then harder again. His body would instinctively push against my hand. Harder when I was pushing harder and less when I let up. That’s how your body does in the wind. Constantly working against it. By the end of the day you need much rest so your body can recover and be ready for the next task. Our hearts and minds are no different. They need rest too. When I first came to know Christ and became one of his I was determined I was going to stop sinning. I know I’m crazy right? Needless to say that didn’t happen. But I tried. I fought so hard against it that soon I was so exhausted that I was ready to give up! It’s easy to live a sinful life you see. It’s our nature. But to not sin goes against our nature so we are constantly fighting against it like the wind. So I’ve learned we need rest. We can overcome sin or at least the regular habits of sin that we have but understand we are human and we will fail from time to time(daily)but rest is vital if we are going to fight against it. God gave us this example of rest in Genesis 2:2-3. After he had created all things in six days on the seventh day he rested from his work. His set that day apart and made it holy. He did this to show us our need for rest. Spiritual rest. How? Well for one we spend time daily in his word(the Bible) so that we can strengthen ourselves just like when we exercise for our bodies. We pray. Spending time talking to God each day can relieve us of the pressures of everyday life. Fellowship with other believers. This is important because we cannot do this alone!! We can give each other encouragement and pray for each other!! And church. Yes church. We need to go and worship and study and take communion and rest together!! If we are going to fight the good fight and struggle against the dark forces of the world we need rest!! Dear God, thank you for this precious gift of rest!! Help us not to forget to do it in our crazy lives!!

I’ve been thinking about Jesus a lot lately. Really trying to grasp the magnitude of what his coming here did for us and what a gift his death and resurrection really is! How much I’ve been forgiven from. How unworthy I am but how worthy he is of our continual praise and worship. I’ve been frustrated with myself because in my prayers I often go to him with more requests than I do praise. To tell the truth my praise and thanks always seem inadequate. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t know him good enough or if my weak human mind can’t come up with the right words. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part;then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. Even Paul couldn’t grasp it all. We just can’t fully get it here. We just have a glimpse of the greatness of God!! But one day we will see fully just who he is in all if his glory!! Then we will no longer be limited or bound in these bodies debilitated by sin. Our ability to praise will no longer be hindered!! We will no longer go to him with all these requests because everything we need will already be taken care of. Nothing will be between us and Jesus! We will fully know! Try to imagine that! That is why he came!! There is no topping that gift!! Until that day my weak praise is all I have to offer but I look forward to that day when we will all be able to praise him fully!! Oh what a sound that will be!! Thank you Jesus for coming!!

I fear for our nation. The troubles we are facing seem so overwhelming!! It seems like there’s nothing I can do about it. But that’s not true. In 2 chronicles 7 King Solomon has just finished building a temple for the Lord. At night God comes to Solomon and tells him that if he’s shuts off the rains, or sends locusts or plagues to their land….pay close attention to this next part…if my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land. So if I’m reading the Godly principles here correctly, the people that are called by God’s name which today would be Christians because we bear Christ’s name, are supposed to do four things. Humble ourselves. We must put our own desires aside and realize who we are. Without Christ we are nothing. Pray. I think that the praying here isn’t just passing prayers but get on our knees in private and pour out your heart to God kinda prayer. Seek God’s face. How do we seek God? In his word for one. Seeking God isn’t just seeking his blessings and the “good things” but seeking him. Getting to know him and his will. It’s a life changing kind of thing. And finally turn from our wicked ways. How often do we dismiss the sin in our lives as just “who we are”? That’s not who we are supposed to be in Christ!! God desires for us to live for him. If all of us who call ourselves by his name would do these four things all together every day faithfully can you imagine how God would respond? He says I will hear from Heaven, forgive your sin and heal your land. Am I wrong to think that the responsibility of bringing our land back to God and his values is in our hands and if we do these things God will hear us and respond? Would it hurt anything to try? Whos with me? Dear Father in heaven, please hear our prayers! Forgive us for we have sinned against you. We know that without you we are lost but with you we have the Spirit of power, love and self discipline!! Please forgive us and heal our land!!

As the man of the house I consider myself the protector. Old fashioned I know but hey that’s just me. I run through my mind how it would go if someone were to break into our home. Would I be willing to give my own life to save my wife and kids? Yes absolutely I would, but how could I protect them if I’m dead? I don’t know if it’s right or wrong but my first instinct is to kill the enemy that’s trying to harm us. From a sinful human viewpoint it’s much easier to imagine an enemy dead than yourself! Most of us would be willing to die for our family, but would we die for the enemy? It doesn’t even seem like a wise thing to do? Right? Did you know that Jesus did that very thing? He died for his enemies. Do you know who they are? Us. All of us. Romans 5:8. It says that God demonstrated his love for us in this; that while we were sinners Christ died for us. You see we are born sinners. Enemies of God. We don’t like to say it or even think about it but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. We just are. So God who loves us so so much came down and gave up his life to make a way for us to be forgiven. Set free from our sinful bondage. No longer enemies of God but quite the opposite! He didn’t stay dead. He rose again and it’s in that fact that we have our hope! We too won’t stay in the grave! Have you put your faith in Jesus ? If not today would be a good time! We are not promised tomorrow and if something happened to you there’s no changing your eternal destination!! If you have trusted in Jesus as your savior, tell someone!! Can you imagine anyone you know going to hell forever and ever? They will never have rest from their torment! I can’t imagine!! What good is our faith in Christ if we hide it? I know it’s uncomfortable to tell people about Jesus but I’m sure the cross was no picnic either!! Just think how wonderful it would be if you did tell someone and they come to believe!! It would forever and ever change their life!! Thank you Jesus for being willing to die for me, your enemy, and for the promise of life eternal!!

A fight seldom occurs without words being spoke first. Often times a disagreement happens, then an argument and then a good ole fight breaks out. Which isn’t good! Before Jesus came into my life it didn’t take much for me to argue and not much more for a fight to ensue. It kinda gave me a rush to fight. You know when God comes into your heart to reside he tends to do a bit of house cleaning. Well in this house of mine he had to do a lot!! One of the first things he wanted cleaned up was my quarrelsome attitude. Apparently you can’t argue people to Christ! It’s just not a Christlike witness. Paul wrote his friend Timothy a letter from prison. 2Timothy 2:22-26 If you like to argue I would encourage you to look this passage up and read it. Twice! I’ve read it many many times. You see when God cleans house, his word is the broom. He uses it to expose and remove all that hidden dirt in your life. He says not to have anything to do with stupid arguments because they produce quarrels. He says that his servants, that’s us, should be kind and peaceful so that our opponents could come to the faith in Jesus. Being gentle and kind and peaceful used to sound kinda sissy like to me but I’ve found that it takes a much stronger person to be kind in the heat of the moment than it does to fight. Fighting is for the weak!! Those who have no self control. God gives us, by his word and Spirit in us, the strength to be kind and gentle. It goes against our old nature but that’s the fight worth fighting. Not against others but against our old nature!! It’s so important to study his word and then put it to practice. If you think about it our behavior might mean the difference in someone else’s eternal life! I would hate to think that my bad behavior actually lead someone away from Christ instead of my kindness leading them to him!! Dear God, help us to be doers of your word and not just readers. Help us not to engage in foolish arguments but to be kind. May that kindness be useful to your good purpose!!

As a kid growing up in a farm community neighbors were kind of a big deal to me. Back then if you saw your neighbor driving cows down the road you would stop and help. They would do the same. It’s just what we did. It was the neighborly thing to do. Last night I was reading in Luke chapter 10. An expert in the law, which would have been the Mosaic law from the Old Testament, was questioning Jesus. He asked what the greatest commandment was. Jesus asked him which he thought it was. He answered to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said he had answered correctly. The man then asked Jesus who is our neighbor? Jesus then told a story of a man who was seriously injured by some robbers. One of the religious leaders passed by and saw the man laying on the road and passed by him on the other side. A priest also did the same thing. A Samaritan walked by him and had compassion for the stranger and bandaged up his wounds and put him on his donkey and took him to an inn. He continued to care for him until he had to go. He gave the innkeeper some money and told him to take care of him till he was able to go on his own and he would come back and pay whatever expenses he needed extra. Jesus then ask who was the injured mans neighbor? The man said the Samaritan. It’s easy to stop and help out folks we know and love isn’t it? But what about a stranger? The Samaritans were hated by many in those days and the stranger was likely to be someone who hated him but the Samaritan man put his differences aside and helped the man anyway. Jesus is making a point to us here. Anyone who is his creation that is in need is our neighbor. Yes even our enemy might be our neighbor!! To walk by on the other side and do nothing is sinful!! In Matthew 25:40 It says if you see someone hungry feed them. If they are thirsty give them a drink and so on. Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these you have done to me!! How we treat people says a lot about how we feel toward God. If we don’t care for our “neighbors” then we must not care about God and his creation. Dear God, help us to treat your creation as our neighbors. Help us to never walk on the other side of the road when we see someone in need!!

Have you ever been tempted in some way and even though you didn’t give in to it you “felt” guilty. It’s not a new question whether temptation is a sin or not. Temptation itself is not sin. It is though not something to be dismissed or taken lightly. Temptation is powerful. I bought a house trailer brand new and put it at our farm. When I moved in even though it was new it was full of mice. So I started trapping. I caught them all by using bait to lure them into the traps. Temptation. But there was one mouse. This little fella wasn’t taking the bait. I tried everything to lure him in but he resisted. He knew the dangers. James 1: 14-15 says but when we are tempted we are dragged away by our own evil desires and enticed. Then when desire is conceived it gives birth to sin. Sin when it full grown gives birth to death. The mouse that couldn’t resist the cheese died. The cheese didn’t kill him. It was allowing his desire for the cheese to rule over him and eating the cheese that got him. The one that ran away from the cheese lived. We are just like the mice. We have a choice. Do we give into our desires or run? Even Jesus was tempted by satan but he resisted. The temptation wasn’t sin. So how do we get the strength to resist? Hebrews 2:18 talking about Jesus it says” because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those that are being tempted. “So in then heat of the moment pray to Jesus for help. In Genesis 39 a Godly man named Joseph was tempted by another mans wife to sleep with her and she grabbed his clothes and he tore them running away from her. When tempted get away from what is tempting you!! Run!! Psalm 119:11 says I have treasured your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Study study study God’s word. It will give you power to resist temptation!! There is no enticing thing, no matter what it is, that is worth the pain it will cause the moment the temporary pleasure has passed. Sin is death. Temptation is not sin. Jesus is life. Run from temptation. Run to Jesus!! Be the mouse that got away and lived!! Dear Jesus, thank you for your help, your example, and your powerful word!! Help us to recognize temptation and when we see to run from it!! God bless you all this day!!

So yesterday I talked about temptation. I decided in my own study time to hit the rewind button and go back to the first temptation to mankind and have a good look at it. It’s funny how many times we can study the Bible and God has this special way of bringing out more each time. In Genesis 3 we read the account of satan or the serpent tempting Adam and Eve who were the first humans which God created and up to this point had never sinned. They were not even aware of it except that God in his goodness had warned them not to eat from a certain tree in the garden because if they did they would die. In fact, they were not to even touch it. So the serpent temps them. I have never caught this before but do you know what he tempted them with? Knowledge. He told them a lie and said they wouldn’t die and that if they ate the fruit from the tree they would be like God knowing both good and evil. Now I’m not going to go on a tangent about knowledge being bad or even seeking knowledge being bad. For sure it is good to seek knowledge and wisdom. But, what knowledge and for what purpose is the thing to keep in mind. The knowledge the serpent offered was useless knowledge that led to sin and pride. 1 Corinthians 13:2 says if I understand all things and have all knowledge and faith that can move mountains but I don’t have love, I am nothing. Knowledge without the love of Christ in our hearts is useless. 1Timothy6:20-21 says to turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas that is falsely called knowledge which some have professed and in so doing have departed from the faith. Knowledge worth seeking is knowledge that leads us to know more about God not that leads us to disbelief!! God’s word is the truth. It is there that true knowledge begins. Knowledge of God and his existence is the beginning of all wisdom. My take away here I guess is this; in our pursuit of knowledge, let’s not forget to seek God first and to love him and each other!! Don’t be tempted by the prideful knowledge that the world offers that leads us away from our good Creator!! Oh God, thank you for your word that never stops teaching us and giving us true knowledge that leads to life everlasting!! Have a great day of worship my dear friends!!

There was a man who arguably was one of the leading defenders of the Christian faith and the Bible in our day. He recently passed away. I looked up to him because I watched him defend the faith to many different people with opposing views and he was always respectful and loving in his defense. Sadly though after his passing several women came forward with sexual allegations against him. At first I didn’t believe it. How could someone with so much knowledge of God’s word do such things? In my mind it just couldn’t be. After much research on the matter I found out that one of the ministries that this man himself started had investigated the matter themselves and to my great dismay confirmed these things to be true. I want to use this as a warning to you my friends to be reminded that our human leaders are just in fact that. Human. Now I’m not going to tell you that this man wasn’t still saved because only God himself and this man have that knowledge but what I am saying is that all of his work is now a huge black mark on the faith that we shared. One who doesn’t trust the Bible could say “ see he’s is a fraud”. The key here is that the Bible is what we can trust. Not the man. We have to be so careful not to idolize our leaders. They are human. We must always check their teaching with God’s word. I’m not saying not to listen to good teaching but for sure we are responsible to do our own research into matters and the only truth is God’s word. I would encourage you to check what I say here in my posts and if I add to or take away from what the Bible says you should call me out on it. And if you see me sinning you should call me out on it!! Anything that takes someone away from Jesus is not good and should be corrected! Be careful what you read, see, and here!! Dear God, help us to depend on you and your word to teach us and not to make humans our idols.

I remember as a kid I wanted to do some things that I had a pretty good idea were wrong. In an effort to justify my actions I would ask Dad if it was a sin or not hoping to get the “okay” to go ahead. Dad was a genius at answering without answering. Often with me his go to answer was this…if Jesus was to come while you were doing that would he be okay with it? I still find myself asking that question. You see we have this built in knowledge of right and wrong. We know that some of the things we do and say would not please God but we forget to ask ourselves” would Jesus be okay with this.” Luke 12:40 says you must be ready all the time for the Son of man will come when you least expect it. When we have company coming and we know ahead of time we clean our house extra clean for our guests. Also if we are going on a trip somewhere we pack and prepare before we go. Jesus is coming! I don’t know about you but I don’t want to be ashamed when he comes. I hope when he comes he finds me doing something that pleases him!! Let’s start asking ourselves before we do or say something if Jesus would be okay with it. Would there be a better way to praise God than to be found doing good instead of evil? Dear Jesus, thank you for your patience with us. Help us to seek and do your will and not ours!!

I was walking our dog Charlie this morning. He’s a rescue dog, a black lab, and he was from a farm where he ran free most of the time. When we take him out we can’t let him loose or he runs away. So we walk him several times a day. When we first got him being led by a lease was not something he was used to. Everything he heard, saw, or smelled made him dart this way and that to investigate. It is his instinct to do that. For the person holding him it’s quite frustrating. Through a series of disciplines and rewards Charlie is getting better and stays by our side most of the time. I got to thinking this must be how God feels with us. When we first start following him we are used to following our old nature. All of our natural tendencies tell us to go this way and that but God has a different path for us. It reminds me of Peter. In Matthew 14 Jesus was walking towards his disciples who were in a boat. He was walking on the water. They were scared for sure and had doubts even after Jesus told them not to be afraid. Peter said to Jesus, if it’s really you call me out to you on the water. So Jesus said come. Peter gets out of the boat. He puts his foot on the water and begins to walk out to Jesus! Everything was going fine. Then the distraction comes. He was a fisherman. Storms were a bad thing to fisherman and they were in a storm on the lake. At first it wasn’t a big deal because he had his mind on Jesus and that was his focus but then the storm caught his attention. Fear set in and he took his mind off of Jesus and onto the storm and what happens next? That’s right. He began to sink. Jesus was right there the whole time just like he is for us. The problem wasn’t the storm. The problem was that in Peters mind the problem, or the distraction, got bigger to him than Jesus. I heard a saying the other day that is fitting here. Instead of glancing at Jesus and gazing on our problem we should glance at our problem and gaze on Jesus. Jesus pulled Peter to safety just like I do Charlie and he’s there to pull us in too. As we learn more about Jesus, our master, we learn more about how he wants us to go and like Charlie we become more obedient and life then is better for us and our Master!! Dear Jesus thank you for never letting go of us. Thank you for redirecting our focus when our instinct is to run here and there. Keep us safe and may our eyes always be on you in the storms!!

Names are interesting to me. They tell us a lot. We are given a name when we are born usually by our parents. Then there’s our last name that identifies us with our family. It can even tell us our heritage. My grandma named my dad after the author of her favorite poem. They are important. We often try to live up to a certain standard to keep the name from being shamed. We are remembered by our name. Those of us who identify ourselves as Christians also bear a name. It’s the name above all names. Christ. His name is right in the word Christian. So how do you think we are doing as Christians bearing his name? How could we do better? If you were in my town and mentioned my name folks could tell you stories about me because they know me. Please don’t do that though cause the stories won’t all be good!! The point is if we bear the name of God shouldn’t we know him? Shouldn’t others when they watch our lives know him because of how we live? Jeremiah 15:16 says when your words came I ate them; they were my joy and my hearts delight, for I bear your name Lord God Almighty!! The prophet Jeremiah knew God. He took it serious that he bore the name of God. He devoured God’s word like a man starving for food!! Why? So that he could know the one who’s name he bore. God! He desired to live in such a way that it would honor God! He didn’t want to bring shame to his name. That’s how we can honor Christ!! Devour God’s word daily. Get to know Christ and apply what we learn to our day to day life in honor of his name!! Dear Jesus, may we never bring shame to your name!! Forgive us for the many times we have!!
Let the light of Christ shine through you to all you meet today!! Love y’all

I don’t think we realize how big of an influence music has on us. With just a couple notes a song from years ago that I haven’t heard in years will pop right to the front and I can recall many of the words. When Mom was suffering with memory loss she could still hum tunes that we could recognize. Often I have listened to music that has lyrics that would not be pleasing to God and my attitude will noticeably change but if I listen to music that glorifies God I will do better. My thoughts are more in line with the Bible and even how I talk and treat people will change. God gave us music as a powerful tool to not only praise him but to help us remember how good he is. Ephesians 5:19 says to speak to each other with psalms, and songs from the heart to the Lord with thanksgiving. What we put into our hearts comes out of our hearts. Bad goes in, bad comes out. Good goes in, good comes out. We don’t have to be good singers. We can just make a joyful noise to the Lord for he is good. Let’s sing a song to the Lord today!! Dear Jesus, help us to be careful what we listen to and what we sing! May our hearts lift up to you a joyful song of thanksgiving for what you have done for us!!!

I have always been fascinated by mountain men. I like to watch life below zero and shows like that where people live out in the wilderness. I read a story one time about a fur trapper back before you could just buy traps. They had to know the animal they were trapping and figure out how to catch them. The animal this particular story was about was a raccoon. Knowing how raccoons like shiny things, this man found a log laying on the timber floor and there was a small hole in the log. He drove nails at an angle pointing towards the middle of the hole and then placed a shiny coin in the bottom of the hole. The next day a raccoon was there! You see he would reach in with both paws and grab the shiny object but when he would try to pull it out he would get caught on the nails. Now all he had to do to get out was let go of the object and he could pull one paw out at a time but he refused to let go!! The trapper was cunning and had his prey. Don’t we all have those sins that we just can’t seem to let go of? I know I do. They keep us right where we are unable to freely move on to better things. How do we get free from them? Hebrews 12:1 says therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us. In essence we are to just let go of it. Throw it off. Sounds easy right? It goes on to say let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus the pioneer and perfected of faith. Jesus endured much pain and suffering but he had his eye on the joy that was ahead after the suffering and didn’t cling to the earthly life he was in at the moment. He is our example. How do we let go of our shiny object? Keep our eyes on Jesus and the joy we will have with him after this short time on earth is over!! We don’t need sin! The old enemy trapper wants us to think we do and he uses our own natural tendencies to keep us hanging on to our sin like it’s some kind of prize! It’s not! It’s a trap! Tired of being stuck where you are hanging onto sin? Look to the one who can set you free and let go!! Dear Lord, help us to look beyond what’s in our hands and let go so we can run the race in freedom that you marked out for us!! Let go and run today my friends!!

Yesterday I helped our dear friends who were our pastor and family pack up to move on to a new adventure to do God’s work in another place. I write this devotion this morning in tears, understanding full well the pain of separation that Paul always felt when called away to build other churches and the pain the church folks felt without him. In all of Paul’s letter his love for the people and their love for him was evident. He would say things like “I long to come and be with you” or I thank God for you in all my prayers”. It is this deep love that the world outside the body of Christ longs for but doesn’t understand. It is this love we are called to share. It has been given to us by Jesus from the moment of our salvation and we are bound together in love by the Holy Spirit of God forever. Whenever believers are separated they will continue to long for the reunion! And there will be a reunion!! 1 Peter 1:3-5 says that through the death and resurrection of Jesus we have an inheritance that can never spoil or fade and is kept for us in heaven and will be revealed to us in the last time. The good news is we will not be separated for long! The day is coming when we will be taken up to be together forever. Both us here and the ones who have gone before us. That is why it is so vital that we share the good news and love of Jesus’ death and resurrection with people so that they too can join us in this glorious inheritance!! There are so many that I long for now for a little while but only for a little while!! Dear God, your plan of salvation, the mystery of the gospel of Christ, is so much more than we can imagine. Thank you for the privilege of serving with my dear friends and bless them in the work you have for them. Thank you for the ones who are with you now that have gone before us that told us about you and give us courage as we share you with others now that they too can come in to the greatest family. Your family!!

Growing up my family didn’t miss church for any reason other than illness. Even on vacation we would find a place to go to church. I was a rebellious person and really didn’t like being told I had to do things so being made to go to church really bothered me. In the last five years the number of teens and twenties leaving the church has increased. This year with covid and churches meeting online that number reached an all time high. This concerns me. Let me explain. You see if my Dad and Mom would have let me stay home and have nothing to do with church I may never have come to trust and believe in Jesus. It wouldn’t have been a big deal because my parents wouldn’t have taught me that it was. I would have had that take it or leave it either way is fine approach to my own faith. I’m so glad that my parents made me go now!! Hebrews 10:23-25 says let us hold unswervingly to the faith we profess for he who promised is faithful. And let us spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another all the more as we see the Day approaching! I can say to you my dear friends with confidence that because my parents professed their faith, and lived it out unswervingly, and never did forsake the meeting together with believers whether in church or Bible study groups even when I fought against them and that even at home where nobody else could see they held to their faith that today I too know Jesus. Without their diligence I may never have been saved! I didn’t make it easy for them either! Because they did the hard thing I came back to church and am teaching my own kids that same faith in Christ although not as good as they did but still doing it. This young generation today that are leaving the church by the droves are the future teachers of the next generation! We need to get back to making it a priority to not forsake meeting together!! It’s right there in the Bible. Meeting together is vital not only in our own lives but also for the eternal future of our children and their children!! I don’t know about you but I want to see my kids in heaven!! Dear Lord help us not to have a lackadaisically approach to meeting with other believers to study and pray together. Help us to make it as big a priority as is our next meal!!

Matthew West has a song out called “truth be told”. You should look up the lyrics. In the song it talks about how when someone asks us how we are doing we will give the standard answer. I’m fine. Never better. We really aren’t. I mean if we are being honest we seldom are doing fine. Oh life is good mostly but I can’t think of a time that I’m not struggling with at least a sin or two. Maybe health issues or relationship stuff going on. I mean life is hard and I know I’m not the only one right? Truth be told. But we don’t tell the truth. Why is it so hard to tell someone that life isn’t perfect? That I have issues and need prayer? We have gotten so used to the standard answers that if you ask someone how they are doing and they did tell you they were having trouble we wouldn’t know how to handle it. Tell the truth. If you ask someone how they are doing and they really told you would you care or do you ask as a formality without really wanting to know? I’m guilty of that too. Truth is we have problems we don’t want people to know and we don’t want to know peoples problems. James 5:13-16 “Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Okay so James, the brother of Jesus , wasn’t one to mince words. He tells it like it is. In this passage it is clear that when we communicate with each other as believers in Christ we are to be honest. If we are happy say so. If we are sick say so. If we have a battle with a sin say so. Then we can heal through the prayers of our brothers and sisters in Christ and also offer prayers for them. Why is this so hard to do? Going into the new year maybe we should make an effort to tell the truth to each other and if we ask someone and they do tell the truth love them enough to listen and then pray for them. Maybe life would be better this way. Dear God, help us to let go of our pride. Help us to be honest about ourselves to each other and to love each other through our weaknesses!!

Have you ever had to move to a different home after living in a place for many years? If you have then you will understand what I mean when I say it takes a long time for you to call it home. For quite awhile the place you moved from is home. You have to get “settled in” to the new place. Put your personal touches to it. You may put stuff in place then rearrange it several times until one day you can finally call it home. The apostle Paul, in Ephesians 3: 14-21, is praying for the church in Ephesus. He is praying for believers there who are clearly already saved, but as he is praying , he asks God the Father to strengthen them with power from his Spirit in their inner being so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. That’s interesting to me. As believers Christ was already in their heart. So what did Paul mean? I think when we first believe and are young in the faith we are like that different house. When The spirit of Christ first comes in he does come to stay but there’s some things he wants to do in there to make it his home. Just like we would he begins by first cleaning it up. As we study his word, learn from mature teachers, and pray and have fellowship with other believers our lives begin to change from our old sinful nature to the new nature. As that transformation takes place, which is Jesus rearranging things, it becomes the dwelling place of God. Home. What an encouragement to think of our inner being as home for the very Spirit of God!! It’s also humbling to me because I know I don’t deserve such an honor. Has your heart become the dwelling place that Christ calls home? Dear God thank you for coming into our lives. For dwelling in us and with us. Never leaving us or forsaking us!!

I was driving home yesterday and I had this urge to just shut off the radio and imagine Jesus sitting there with me. I sat quietly for awhile. My heart began to pound in my chest! I wasn’t worthy of his presence there with me but yet there he was and I was full of both joy and sorrow. Joy that he would even be with me but sorrow because I know who I am. Tears filled my eyes as my thoughts turned away from me and onto him. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. We marvel at angels yet they are in awe of him! They worship him!! When you put your trust in Jesus, he sends the Holy Spirit to live in you. It is the very presence of God himself living inside you!! The one who even the angels worship comes down and takes up residence in you! Are you getting this? How awesome that is that God himself is right there with you? I’ve known this for most of my life but it never stops amazing me! Why would he do that? Because he loves us. More than anyone else. He cares. More than anyone else. I began to pour out my soul to Jesus right there in my truck. People I met on the road probably thought I was nuts! It doesn’t matter. To be able to cast all the concerns of life on him and know that he is really there listening and in his time and way will do something is so healing. To know when you tell him all the awful thoughts or sins you’ve done and know he will forgive you and help you to stop doing them it’s so freeing! To be able to tell him how awesome he is and to thank him for all the blessings in your life because you know they come from him is wonderful! Dear friends there is nothing boring or mundane about following Jesus. Just knowing he is right there with you is exciting and satisfying like nothing else!! Dear Lord, thank you for being Emanuel. God with us!! Help us not to get so wrapped up in our lives that we forget you are right there with us all the time!!

To say we are saved because we believe in Jesus we must first ask ourselves what do we mean by believe. Is our believing merely our belief that Jesus existed? Who do we believe he is? There are many thoughts out there about him . Some say he was a good man but just a man. Some say he was a prophet. The Bible says he is both God and man. Also, even the demons believe. James2:19. James tells us that we believe in God. Good. But even the demons believe. So what does it mean to believe in Jesus and be saved? It’s a kind of belief that is more than just intellectual. It’s that belief when deep in your heart you agree with God that your a sinner than deserves death. Also that you believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection really happened and was the only way for us to be forgiven. It means believing with such intensity that we turn away from our old way of life(repent ) and lay that old life down and follow Jesus. Being obedient to him. Confess our sins to him. And then declaring to others of his existence and work in our lives!! It’s easy to say we believe. It’s another thing to BELIEVE!! Have you come to that belief in the Christ? The Messiah? God in the flesh?? Jesus? Emmanuel? He has come and will come again!! Don’t wait! Trust and believe!! He is waiting but he won’t wait forever!! He loves you! Of all the turns you could make in life this one will be the best!!

One day while some of us were volunteering at a ministry that distributes used bibles and materials around the world, I was visiting with the man who started it. He said that many pastors around the world teach with only one or two pages out of the Bible because it’s not available to them. One man had been teaching for two years on only half of the book of John. We take for granted here that God’s word is available to us in plenty. Some of us have more than one Bible and commentaries and maybe have it on our phones. What’s sad is that our bibles are dusty. The man who was teaching with only the book of John had worn the pages to where they could hardly be read any more! How would it affect us if we no longer were able to have access to a Bible? When God gave his law to Moses to give to his people listen to what he told them. Deuteronomy6:7-9 these commands I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home or when your walking down the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them to your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and to your gates. Do you think God was trying to make a point of how important his word should be? When we take a quick glance at something and then don’t look at it again for a long while we forget what it looks like. We have a weak human memory. Repetitively looking at something often though will give us the ability to remember and each time we look we get more and more details. Have you had someone in your life that has changed glasses or hair style and you might see them a couple times before you notice it? God’s word wasn’t meant to be glanced at once a week or less. It is to be absorbed into our being. It should be vital to our very existence. Jesus himself said man can’t live on bread alone but on every word that comes from God! Let’s blow the dust off of our bibles together and start wearing out the pages! There are so many things to learn about God, ourselves, the world and what an adventure it will be!! Thank you Lord God for your word to us!! Help us to make it the most important thing of our lives!!

So if you were to ponder, I mean really ponder that God knows everything about you more than anyone else how would that make you feel? He knows even your innermost thoughts that you wouldn’t even share with your closest friend. Would it give you comfort or would it strike you with fear? When my Mom taught us in Sunday school and in child evangelism classes after school I remember her saying one time that God knows even the thoughts we will have before we even have them. That scared me a bit because many of my thoughts were not good and I didn’t really know God then like I do now. I , like a lot of folks, used to think God would strike me with lighting if I said or did something he didn’t like. I’ve studied the Bible a lot though from old to néw testament and I’ve found that God is slow to anger and abounding in love. Yes he knows my innermost thoughts. He also helps me to push back those thoughts that are sinful and to concentrate more on the good thoughts that are productive for me and those around me. He could only give me this help by knowing all there is to know about me!! So that he knows me so well, even the bad side of me, actually gives me great comfort. David wrote in psalm 8 , who are humans that God is mindful of us? He considered all the awesome things God created and wondered why he would give us a second glance? He made us! We are his masterpiece. Oh how he is mindful of us!! He loves us so much and wants to be in the most secret places of our lives. That place that only the best of friends could get in. He wants to be that one in our life!! He should be. After all we can’t hide a thing from him and he is much more trustworthy to tell our secrets to than any human here on planet earth!! I don’t know about you but I’m glad when I think about how mindful Jesus is of little old me. I may be nothing in this world to anyone else but I’m something to him. And so are you!! God thank you for knowing us and loving us still!!

For many the Bible is just a book of stories. Just a book of many authors telling stories some true some myths handed down. But oh it’s so much more than that!! The true author of the Bible is God himself!! Yes he used the pen and even the personality of many different men to write it uniquely as only God could but make no mistake God gave the words!! Gods word to us is true, reliable, instructive, helpful and more. 2 Timothy 3: 16 tells us it is God breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. A mentor of mine once said if you want to hear God speak to you read the Bible out loud! It is his word to us!! What a gift. It should be our most valued treasure here on earth. It tells us of the loving nature of God. Of how he sent his Son Jesus to save us which is why we celebrate Christmas. It tells us who we are. It even tells us who we could be with him and what our future holds. To dismiss it as just of bunch of fictional stories is a tragedy!! No matter how many times you read it you never stop learning new things! It never gets old and brings you blessing and help in a troubled world! If you haven’t spent time in the Bible I highly recommend you start. It will change your life!! I know it has mine!! Thank you Lord for your word to us!! Help us to learn from it so that we will be equipped to do your work!!

As we go through life it’s so easy to get wrapped up in what’s going on and thinking it’s only us. We blame politicians for the bad or we give them credit for what we like. Are we foolish to think that they are pulling all the strings? That they could fix everything? I don’t have time to tell the story here about Job’s life. Please go to the Old Testament and read it. He found out that there is certainly spiritual forces at work and yes they directly affect our lives!! They did his for sure! Do you ever look at our world and just see evil growing like a cancer even here in our own nation? Ephesians 6 :10-20 explains that there are powers and dark forces at work in our lives. Their goal is to destroy our souls. The good news is that in that same chapter is a list of weapons that we have if we are in Christ, that is believers, that we can use for protection and even to fight when necessary! It says to put on the full armor of God! It lists what these are. The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted with readiness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit! It doesn’t say to have a couple of these. It says to put on the FULL armor of God. Evil forces seem unbeatable at times but remember that at the cross our Savior has already won this for us! Yes we have to deal with evil for a short time but we have God on our side and in the end he wins and that means so do those who trust in him!! I would encourage you to study Job and Ephesians 6 this week. We are at war! Join the battle! Put on the full armor of God today before you leave the house!! Thank you God for not leaving us here unequipped! Help us to pray in the Spirit daily holding each other up!!

So is it safe to say that 2020 gave us a good reason to grumble and complain? It seemed like everything was a mess! Covid 19, political unrest, riots, and on and on. If ever we had a right to complain it’s now right? Have you ever been hanging out with some folks and you were all discussing the problems of life(complaining) and there was that one person who was just positive about everything and with every complaint they would have something positive to say? Annoying right? But after awhile of listening to them you start thinking “I guess I really shouldn’t complain. I’ve ate three meals a day, and have a roof over my head. “ James 2:2-4 says, consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters when you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything. Complaining and grumbling doesn’t actually solve anything. As Christ followers we really shouldn’t join in with the complaining. We go through the same things as unbelievers, that’s true but the difference is that God is producing in us good things through our trials. If we claim to belong to him we should be looking for those things. Like patience, perseverance, maturity, a reliance on God and so much more. Complaining is like saying to God “thanks for these most important gifts but no thanks. I’d rather be comfortable without them.” The best things in life come through pain and work and struggle. A tree gains its strength by being blown in the wind. It actually breaks the wood fibers in its core and when they heal it becomes a little stronger. Over time it can handle more and more and is able to stand strong against the hard winds. If we are to be a witness to the world we need to be different than the world. When everyone else is complaining, we should be thankful. God is using these painful circumstances we are in to build us up and set us apart so that the world can see him living in us!! I’ve been guilty of complaining. You know I’ve never seen in God’s word where it says worship the Lord with complaining and grumbling. Rather I have seen worship the Lord with thanksgiving. Let’s pray for each other to resist the temptation to join in with the world in their griping and instead be thankful. Who knows, maybe we will help guide someone to Christ when they see us standing strong against the winds of life. Dear Father , help us to go against our instinct to complain when things are uncomfortable but chose instead the better thing. To be joyful and thankful to you for building us up to maturity!!

Other than Jesus himself king Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. Many of his words of wisdom are in the Bible. In one of the books he wrote, Ecclesiastes he talks about life here on earth. He talks about how there’s nothing new here that hasn’t been done. How there’s a time for everything. He tells of all his accomplishments in life which for him were many. He had much wisdom and endless resources so there wasn’t much he didn’t do. Towards the end of his life he looked back and realized that all that he had done was worthless. Why? He did everything in a grand effort to find happiness and meaning in life but never found it. He had done it for himself. He didn’t do it for God or to please him. He had spent this amazing gift of wisdom that God had givin him on himself!! Don’t we do that? If we were to take an actual inventory of our time each day, what could we conclude would be the time spent for ourselves and what time did we spend utilizing our God givin talents for him? Oh what time I waste on myself!! In chapter 12 he concludes by saying that to fear God and keep his commandments is the duty of mankind. For in the end God will bring every deed into judgement, both good and bad, even every hidden thing. Every single thing we do, even in our recreation, we should do it all being mindful of Gods presence in our lives knowing that we will all stand before him and give account for our lives here. Solomon gave us something to think about!! Father in heaven, help us to do all things to please you and help us to use the gifts you’ve given us for your glory and not for ourselves!!

How does it make you feel when you see God taken out of everything? No more Ten Commandments in the courthouse? No prayer in school? It makes me sad. Why would anyone want to? God is good! His commandments are good! They are so important! If we as a society would follow them so many things would be better. Let’s take a look at just the first one. Exodus 20:3 you shall have no other gods before me. A religious leader once asked Jesus which one of the commandments was the most important. (Mark12:30-31)He said love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And second love your neighbor as yourself. Study that over in your mind a few minutes! If we actually loved God as Jesus described it here we would be so focused on pleasing God that following his commands would be a delight!! And then if we coupled that with caring for our neighbors, meaning people, as much as we cared for ourselves, how much better do you think society would look today? If we say we love God but we don’t act like it then do we really? Dear God, every day you help us, provide for us, love us and still we ignore you so much of the day!! Forgive us. Forgive me!! Help us to love you,Love your commands, and Love our neighbors!!
God bless you my dear friends!! Have a great one!

I was reading a devotion written by Pastor Greg Laurie this morning. He posed the question, what if you loved someone and wanted to get them a gift, so you sold your house your car and everything you had and purchased this really awesome gift. You go to give if to them and they say “ awe that was sweet of you but I really couldn’t take that”. You say “ but I really want you to have it. I gave everything I had so you could have this”. They reply” yes I know and it was kind of you but I just don’t really want it right now. Maybe someday but for now you just keep it.” How would that make you feel? John 3:16 tells us that God gave all he had, his one and only Son to us. Us being the world and all who live here on earth. From every tribe and nation. It says that whosoever may believe in him would not parish but have eternal life. Did you know that many will say” no thank you. That’s just not for me. It was nice of God to do that but I really don’t need it right now. Maybe some other day”. I wanted this hot wheels set I’d seen on tv. My folks couldn’t afford it but they got me some used ones from a thrift store for Christmas. I was disappointed and ungrateful because it wasn’t what I thought it would be. I’m ashamed of that now of course . I thought it would be in a fancy new box with instructions and all. Instead I had to figure it out and do some work to get the track together and after awhile I wouldn’t have traded that set for a hundred new ones. Excepting Gods gift of salvation doesn’t come like we want it. We want to keep on living a sinful life but we want heaven too. Its like telling God “ that’s nice but it’s just not what I wanted.” The thing is if you do trust and believe and take that gift God has given you I know you wouldn’t trade it for anything. It would change your life! Eternally!! Thank you for the greatest gift I’ve ever received dear Jesus

My thought to kick off the new year is that you are beautiful. I don’t care what color you are or what you look like or how many scars life has givin you. You are beautiful. God has made you and God doesn’t make anything that’s not beautiful. What he sees and what we see is probably not the same. Sometimes we as human beings choose to see ugly. When I examine myself on this issue I find that when I see ugly in someone it’s often because of what first impression I’ve had or some differing viewpoints or attitudes but the truth is more often that ugly I see comes from within me. They may see me the same way. This year I would like to see people from Gods vantage point. I want to look for the beauty in people. Look past the surface and see what God sees. I know that I’m not God so I won’t be able to do this perfectly but if I’m looking for it I hope that I can change my own ugly that I carry about people and maybe I will do a better job loving folks in the Christlike way that God wants us to. When a sculptor looks at a chuck of rock he sees a masterpiece. We just see a rock. Let’s start looking for the masterpiece!! Who’s with me? Dear God, help us this new year to look for the masterpiece and beauty in people not the bad and ugly!!! Remember you are beautiful in Gods eyes!! Happy new year

One day when Jesus was here on earth he took Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain to pray. (luke9:28-35) While they were there Jesus’ face and clothes changed and became bright. I think he looked like he would have looked in heaven. Also Moses and Elijah appeared there. They would have been dead for many years at this point but the three men recognized them even though they never would have known them. It was a miraculous event taking place here. Peter realizing the wonder of the moment offered to put up tents for Jesus Moses and Elijah so they could stay there with them for awhile. He didn’t want the good time to end. Who would right? We have those good times now and then. When spiritually speaking everything feels right and good and we don’t want to leave that “mountaintop”. But what if we stayed? What if Peter,James,John, and Jesus would have stayed there? How selfish would it be to stay resting on the mountain with so many in need in the valley? Yes in the valley there’s troubles of many kinds! It’s uncomfortable there. But that’s where the love of Jesus is needed. It’s good to visit the mountaintops for a moment of rest and renewal, but there’s still work to be done in the valley! It’s like going to church. It’s wonderful to go and fellowship with other likeminded believers and worship together. But we can’t just keep ourselves in that little group. We must go out to the rest of the world like Jesus did. What benefit would there be in the good news of Jesus’ salvation if we kept it all on the mountain with us while so many suffer in the valley that need it too? In Matthew 9:37 Jesus told his disciples that the harvest was plentiful but the workers are few. It’s still true today. Now more than ever people need to know that Jesus loves them and died for them and rose again offering us a way of forgiveness from our sin and eternal life with him!! Dear Lord and Savior , help us to not grow tired of telling others about you! Help us to be willing to go back to the valley after being on the mountain with you!!

I grew up in Huntsville, Illinois. It was a very small community. In that little town lived a giant of a person. His name was Merle. Now Merle was a slave to a wheelchair from a very early age. By all accounts of his life he should of been bitter, angry or sarcastic but he wasn’t. He would watch us play in the park after church or summer Bible school. I know he wanted to run with us but there he sat. Often in pain or discomfort. Smiling. Always smiling. As he grew up he got weaker and weaker or at least physically he did. But not on the inside. His heart and soul became stronger and stronger. You see Merle had given his heart to Jesus as a young boy. Though he had to suffer for a time he had this unstoppable, unchanging hope that he could count on to help him endure. And he endured!! Like no person I’ve ever known in my life. I’m proud to say he was my friend but he was more than that. He was a witness to me of hard work and endurance in Christ!! 1 Thessalonians 1:3 says we remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ! So many of us, like me, have been blessed with a strong body able to do physical work and often we take it for granted. We have also been given the chance to be saved just like Merle. I’m ashamed to say that even though I am saved and truly believe in Jesus I often fail in my attitude. I get spiritually lazy and complain or become sarcastic when times get tough. It is then that God in his great love for me reminds me of the giant of a man that was in my life who for the hope of eternal life endured so much and did it with a kind word and a smile!! Merle, I remember you before our God and Father, how you labored and endured daily and because of you I am reminded that a kind word and a smile is a much better witness than snarky, sarcastic words and a frown. I long to run with you in paradise!! Dear Father, I thank you for the people you have put in my life both past and present that are still teaching me and helping me grow!!